Things Are Brighter With You Around (One-Shots)
by Tantei Trash
Summary: A group of Horikashi one-shots that are not related to one another, although some minor characters repeat. Mainly fluff. They are submissions for Horikashi week 2015.
1. Summer

**Summary:** The drama club goes on a trip to the mountains, meanwhile cute fluff ensues between Hori and Kashima. (Wonderful summary, right? It's short. And cute. And Kashima wears a dress. And Hori punches someone. And they tell ghost stories.)

 **A/N:** Here's my one-shot for the Horikashi week 2015, day 1 prompt "summer." Unfortunately it's a bit late because I had to make a new account and wait to be able to publish. I didn't want to post this straight to tumblr though because I thought it would be long.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun or any of its characters, this is a fan work.

* * *

 **1\. Summer**

Kashima stifled a yawn as she neared the coach bus waiting for the drama club students in the school parking lot. It was five am and she wished she wasn't awake, but the club was leaving for a trip to a mountain villa for their summer bonding event and in order to make it by dinner time they needed to leave early.

"Kashiiimmmaaa!" A group of girls squealed delightfully as if it weren't such an unholy hour, causing the blue haired girl to turn and force herself into her role as the school's prince. "You look so nice too day!" They all shouted as they came closer. "It's different!"

"Good morning my lovely princesses!" Kashima said gallantly as she moved over. Taking the hand of the nearest girl and she said, "It's you who looks lovely this morning." She had to catch the girl as she swooned and said, "Don't fall or you'll damage your beautiful face!"

Hori groaned, hearing the commotion outside and sinking into his seat. He didn't need to look to know what was going on. _Of course…they weren't even invited this time and they came along to see her anyways…even at this ungodly hour._

"Kashima, why can't we go with you?" One of the girls asked, pouting as she looked up at the prince.

"Unfortunately this is a closed event for the drama club…it breaks my heart to know that we'll be gone for so long." Kashima said as she took the girl's hand. "But fear not princesses! I will return with chocolates from the mountains!" She said with a smile.

Hori rolled his eyes. _They don't even make chocolates there Kashima…_ He was getting more and more annoyed listening to the girls. He hadn't even noticed Kashima had said her goodbyes to them and that they were just talking amongst themselves now until he had stood up and gone to open the window, only to hear Kashima call out to him.

"Senpai!" Kashima called out excitedly as she bounced onto the bus, heading over to where he was seated in the middle. "You're saving the seat for me, right?!" She asked, plopping down into the seat beside him.

Hori turned to Kashima and frowned, "Why do you have to be so loud? Don't you know what time it is?"

"Far too early…but I was happy to see you." Kashima said with a frown. They hadn't seen each other in a couple of days and she missed him. "Aren't you happy to see your favorite kohai?"

Hori sighed, "I meant with your fanclub…" He didn't want to deal with Kashima being upset, so he had to choose his words carefully, otherwise she'd keep asking him questions about how to win his favor back. Or try doing something to win it back.

"Because the show must go on no matter how you're feeling, right?" Kashima asked, grinning.

"I guess you're right." Hori replied in a light tone, surprised by how dedicated she was to her fans despite the fact that they annoyed him. "But give me that bag," he said noticing that she hadn't put her bag up on the overhead. He grabbed it and moved around her and began to try to get it up onto the overhead wrack. _Oh right…I had to stand on the seat…_ He remembered, realizing he was a bit too short. Suddenly he felt hands around his waist and he was being hoisted up some.

"Kashiiimmmaaa! Put me down!" He shouted, wriggling around in her arms.

"I'm sorry senpai! I just figured you'd need help!" Kashima said, putting him down.

Hori threw her bag, managing to get it into the overhead due to sheer luck, not that he'd care if it had hit Kashima at this point, and moved back into the seat. "Well I don't!" He hissed, throwing himself down into his seat.

Kashima frowned and sat back down and watched as he began to shuffle through the small bag at his feet. "What's that?" She asked when he pulled out a small black square.

"A portable DVD player," Hori responded, reaching into the bag for a DVD, "it's a long ride, so I figured I'd bring something to do."

"Oh…I hadn't even thought about that." Kashima replied with a sigh.

"Here," Hori said as he opened up the DVD player and plugged in earbuds, handing over one to Kashima. He grabbed a DVD from his bag and slipped it in, asking, "Have you ever seen Spirited Away? Some of the students were asking us to do a play based off of it so I'm doing research. I haven't watched it in a long time."

"No, I've never seen it," Kashima replied shaking her head as she popped in an earbud and stifled a yawn, "is it good?"

"Definitely," Hori replied with a nod, sitting back as he put in the other earbud and pressing play.

* * *

"Hey president," the vice president, Haruna, called as she neared his seat, "we're debating on where to stop for-oh…" She stopped when she got to the seat and grinned, seeing that Hori and Kashima were both passed out. Kashima had her head resting on Hori's shoulder and Hori's head was resting on top of her's. _When will you guys just date?_ She thought while reaching forward and closing the now dead DVD player Hori had on his lap and disconnecting the headphones from the jack, putting it into the pocket of the seat in front of Kashima since it was closest. "Never mind guys, we'll have to decide ourselves." She said as she returned towards the back.

They stayed that way until they stopped for lunch and Haruna woke them up by tapping Kashima on the shoulder.

"W-whaaatt!? I wasn't sleeping! I swear!" Kashima shouted as she jolted up, causing Hori to startle awake. She thought it was Hori who was waking her up, scolding her for slacking off or something.

"What's going on?!" Hori shouted, before realizing where he was. Kashima was shouting and for some reason he thought she was doing something he needed to take care of, but then it dawned on him she was just waking up too. "Kashima, quit shouting." He said with a sigh, then looked up at Haruna. "What is it?"

"We're stopping for lunch." Haruna replied. "I went to ask where you thought we should stop, but you were asleep, so we decided we'd just stop at a mall and all eat in the food court so we could make our own decisions."

"Oh, okay," Hori replied as he and Kashima followed her off of the bus. As they were getting off he watched Kashima take off her jacket and it dawned on him that she was wearing a sundress. _That's…unusual…_ He thought, feeling his face heat up a bit. How had he not noticed the dress? Probably because of the fact that with the jacket on it looked like her usual combination of a skirt and a long sleeved shirt. She wasn't even wearing socks. How had he not noticed _that_? _Christ…stop looking before she notices…_ He thought to himself, forcing himself to look ahead. _She is a girl after all…girls can wear whatever they want._ Then it dawned on him: what if she said it was "the dress she knew he always wanted to wear" or some shit like that? He clenched his fist and was about to start yelling at her, but Haruna had started talking to her.

"That dress looks nice on you," Haruna said to Kashima as they walked across the parking lot, "I'm surprised that's what you're wearing though…"

"Ahh…yea, I was actually dared by Seo…" Kashima replied laughing as she tied the jacket to her waist. She had been looking at the dress in the store for a couple of minutes, wondering if she should buy it or not, as it wasn't something she would usually wear. It was a light coral color and the top had one piece of fabric overlapping the other and sloping down to her waist, creating a slight v at the neck. The dress was tucked in at the waist by a white belt. She had thought it would look nice with her mint colored flats and the tan jacket she had in her closet, neither of which she ever got to wear because they didn't really suit her normal dress style. Seo had caught her staring at it and smacked her on the back saying, "You want to wear that so you can remind that Hori guy you're a girl, don't you?!" she had said, causing Kashima to turn bright red and reply, "No! We're just friends, it's not like that!" And the next thing she knew, Seo was whisking her over to the counter with the dress in her hands saying that she dared her to wear it and take pictures. "And you can't wear socks!" She had shouted, laughing maniacally as they left the store.

"Well, it's a nice to mix up your style once in awhile, right?" Haruna replied with a smile. She glanced back at Hori, wondering what his reaction to all this was. He was staring down towards the ground. Or was he staring at Kashima's legs?!

Hori noticed Haruna was looking at him and sort of glaring at him and tensed. "Let's hurry up and get food, I'm starving," He said, grabbing Kashima by the arm and dragging her towards the mall, leaving Haruna with a group of stragglers who were still getting off of the bus.

"Senpai, what do you think about this dress? Do you like it?" Kashima asked, looking down at him.

Hori paused, wondering if she was asking about whether she looked good in the dress or something else. Before he could answer, Kashima was speaking again.

"Because I think it's your style!" She added eagerly.

"Kashiimmmaaa!" Hori shouted, spinning around and punching her in the arm. "Stop that! I don't know where you got this idea that I want to be a girl, or dress like one, but stop it!" He growled, before stalking off on his own.

Kashima just laughed. "There's no need to be shy about it, senpai!" She called out, running after him.

Not long after they were in the food court, standing in line to get their lunch and just chatting away about the kind of food they'd find at the villa. "The place has a sauna, right?" She asked changing the topic all of a sudden, "and there's a shrine nearby too, right?"

Hori nodded, "Yea…there's a couple nature trails as well." They had decided it was a good idea to get away from the city in order to do give them all some time to relax and they had already gone on a beach trip this year, so someone had proposed they go to the mountains. He knew Kashima wasn't too excited that there wouldn't be many shopping opportunities, but he was sort of glad, because just a couple weeks ago he got roped into shopping with her and they had spent the entire day doing so. But then again, no matter where they went he'd probably spend the day cashing her around. After all, she was popular no matter where they went. He could already hear a group of girls gushing about her behind him and was trying not to roll his eyes.

"Do you want to go to the shrine with me?" Kashima asked as they moved forward in line.

"Maybe," Hori replied, not really paying attention. He was looking over at another group of girls gawking at her.

"Oh hey, take a picture with me senpai!" Kashima said, grabbing his arm and turning him towards her. Before he could even respond she was leaning in and grinning, taking a selfie. "Perfect!" She said while looking at the picture. Hori looked surprised in the picture, which was likely the best she'd get from him. She quickly sent it to Seo and Chiyo, then set it as her background on her phone. "So what else do you want to do there?" She asked, but didn't get a reply because all of a sudden someone was whistling at her. The hair on the back of her neck stood up and she turned to look, seeing two men who were about the same height as Nozaki leering at her, one had dark brown hair and the other had light blonde.

"Look at those legs!" The one closest to her said to his friend. He was the blonde.

"Hey baby," The dark haired one said as he moved closer, "how about you let me treat you to lunch? I know a place that's better than here."

Hori clenched his fist and moved in front of Kashima, looking up at the older man. He was a college student, he could tell that much. "Leave her alone," he said, glaring at him.

"Oh look at this, she has a boyfriend! And he's a runt!" The blonde said as he moved over. "Come on sweetie, why not hang out with real men?"

"No thank you…" Kashima replied with a frown. This felt extremely awkward, as she was usually never in this position. The girls who adored her were much gentler and the guys she went to school with were just friendly with her. They treated her like one of the guys. "Senpai…it's okay…" She said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Aww, c'mon," The brunette said, reaching out for her only to have his arm caught by Hori and to suddenly be punched in the face.

"Teacher! There's a fight! Hori-senpai is fighting someone!" Was all it took to bring the entire club and the teacher chaperon over. It also sent the blonde running and cause the brunette to pull back.

"I didn't start it!" The brunette said, waving his hands in the air. He didn't want to this being reported to the police.

"Iha-sensei, it's not senpai's fault!" Kashima chimed in, moving in front of Hori this time. It was her turn to protect him.

"I don't want to hear it," Iha replied shaking his head, he was already fed up with dealing with the drama club. He had been roped in because the normal advisor was sick and he owed her a favor. He had just turned to question the brunette, but he had disappeared. "Crap," he muttered under his breath before turning to Hori, "get your food and meet me on the bus."

Hori sighed, "Alright…" He got back in line, rubbing his hand.

"I'm sorry senpai…it's my fault…" Kashima said as she looked down at the floor. "Tell him it was my fault."

"It wasn't your fault." Hori replied, frowning. "Look at me, Kashima. It wasn't your fault, okay? It's never your fault when people act like that. I'd do it again."

Kashima smiled and looked up, "Thank you, senpai."

* * *

"Senpai, are you almost done?" Kashima asked as she moved into the kitchen where Hori was washing dishes. That was his punishment for earlier, since they were staying at one of the smaller villas that people could rent but had to do their own cooking and dishes.

"Just finished," Hori replied as he dried his hands off and hung up the towel.

"We're all going to tell ghost stories by the fire," Kashima said as she zipped up her jacket. She had changed into a pair of jeans, a button up shirt, and was wearing a jacket because it was chilly out.

"Okay, I'll be right out there." Hori said as he untied the smock he was wearing and hung it up.

"Alright!" Kashima said, smiling and heading back outside.

A couple minutes later, after Hori had put on a jacket, they were sitting outside by the fire and beginning to tell stories. After about an hour, the number of students began to die down, leaving only Haruna, Kashima, Hori, and two other third years.

"I've got an idea," Kashima said as she stuffed a handful of marshmallows into her mouth and kept talking, "how about we go around the circle and add onto a story!"

"Okay! That's a great idea!" Haruna said grinning. "Who wants to start?"

"I will!" The female third year chimed in. "Then we can go to the left, so we'll finish up with Hori-kun."

* * *

"Why did it have to be a story about ghosts in the woods…?" Kashima asked as she laid down beside Hori, having opted to sleep beside him because the ending that he had chosen was awful. Although to be honest, she probably would have slept beside him anyways. Basically, it turned into a story about campers being in the woods and meeting a bunch of people near a nice little cabin, which turned out to be not so nice, and had been sitting with the decaying bodies of all of the people they had met inside. It turned out that during the day, their ghosts carried on like normal and the cabin appeared normal, but at night it turned into the murder cabin it truly was. The point was that it attracted victims by seeming like a safe haven should campers need to take shelter from bad weather or animals. "What if this place is haunted like that…?" She wondered, biting her lip.

"It's not," Hori replied shaking his head, "go to sleep, you'll be fine." _I knew that would get you…_ He thought to himself, closing his eyes.

"Well, if there are ghosts, I'll be sure to point them your way for summoning them." Kashima replied as she closed her eyes.

"Go for it, considering they're not real." Hori replied with a yawn.

"I will," Kashima threatened, yawning as well. Despite the fact that she had been scared, being near Hori seemed to calm her down and she managed to fall asleep within minutes.

Hori however, did not. He opened his eyes when he heard footsteps coming from outside and glanced at the door, seeing a shadow go across the screen and pulling the blankets over his head. _Crap…_ He thought, realizing he managed to creep himself out a bit. _It's just your imagination…_ He had just calmed down a little bit when suddenly something touched him and he jumped, pulling back the blankets to escape, only to see that Kashima had managed to throw her arm over onto him. _Of course…_ He thought, shaking his head. Nonetheless, he moved a bit closer to her and closed his eyes.

* * *

 **FIN**

 **A/N:** I realize this is rather late, as it's almost the end of day 2, but I had it done and wanted to post it!


	2. Fight

**Summary:** The drama club is doing tryouts for their musical and Kashima is nowhere to be found. Once found, Hori and Kashima get into a fight over the musical. Hori and Kashima fluff.

 **A/N:** Here's my one-shot for the Horikashi week 2015, day 2 prompt "fight." Unfortunately it's a bit late because being late on the first submission set back this one as well! D:

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun or any of its characters, this is a fan work.

* * *

 **2\. Fight**

"Kashima!" Hori shouted as he ran down the hall, peering into open classroom doors and terrifying anyone who happened to be inside the rooms. "I will find you!" He called out as he began to open up any doors that were shut, finding only empty classrooms, a group of first years hiding in a corner, and Nozaki. "Have you seen Kashima?" He asked, gasping for breath as he leaned against the wall. This was worse than usual. "You don't think she went home, do you?"

"I haven't seen her," Nozaki replied shaking his head, "but I know you're not the only one looking for her." He pointed to the group of girls coming up behind him.

"Kashima-kun! Kashima-kun! Where are you?! I want to see you before I go home!" They all called out in unison.

Hori took a deep breath and clenched his fist, turning to the girls. "Get out of here!" He yelled at them, then slid the door shut firmly and leaned against it. He could hear the girls shouting on the other side.

"We know she's with you! Bring her out! Bring her out!" They cried as they pounded on the door.

Hori pushed all his weight against the door. "Text Sakura…ask her if she knows…" He begged.

"Okay," Nozaki said as he moved over while pulling out his phone. He leaned his weight against the door to help keep it shut, hearing a girl outside fall to the ground because she had been seconds away from opening the door until his weight made it impossible. _Hey…do you know where Kashima is? Senpai is looking for her._

"Let us in! We know you're hiding her! You can't have her to yourself!" The girls outside the door screamed. "We know you have her!"

"God they're scary..." Nozaki murmured. _And her fans are going to murder us._ He added, before hitting send.

* * *

"Kashima, it's just tryouts for a musical… Come on, you don't have to hide there." Sakura said as she reached out her hand to her friend, who was curled up in the fetal position on the ground underneath the outside bleachers. "There's a spider web above your head…" She said with a frown.

"It doesn't matter…it's all over…" Kashima replied, covering her face with one hand. "My beloved kohai position…once Hori-senpai realizes I can't sing, it's all over! I'll be demoted to a background role forever!"

"Now you're definitely overreacting Kashima," Sakura replied shaking her head, before looking down at her phone and seeing that Nozaki was texting her. She bit her lip. _Do I lie…?_ She looked over at Kashima, who was now going on about how she'd have to find a way to look shorter, otherwise she may as well quit the club. _I think I should tell him…it can't be as bad as she thinks…_ She began to text back her reply. _Yes…she's under the bleachers-BUT! She has a good reason! They're doing a musical!_

"Oh come on, he'll probably just want to cancel the musical once he hears your voice!" Seo replied, bringing her hands to her hips and laughing. "No one will ever want to risk hearing you sing again!"

"That…doesn't help…" Kashima said, curling further into herself. "It's over…it's over." She repeated, rocking back and fourth.

Nozaki looked down at his phone and said, "She's under the bleachers…" Then his eyes widened as he read the rest of the text, but it was too late Hori had already thrown the door open and was leaving the room. Nozaki was now lying on the ground, half in the classroom and half out of it, staring at a group of girls who had also been thrown to the ground. Some were lying face first beside him moaning in pain, others were on their back rubbing at their heads or butts.

"Out of my way!" Hori shouted, pushing past the girls and heading towards the bleachers.

 _Oops…I think you better prepare yourselves. He's coming and he's mad._ Nozaki replied to Sakura, before getting up and heading outside himself.

* * *

"Kashiiiiima!" Hori shouted as he neared the bleachers at a full sprint. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" He called, seeing her curled up on the ground.

Sakura looked up and frowned. _What did you tell him Nozaki?!_ Then her phone went off and she looked down. _A little too late for that one buddy…_

"Looks like it's time for me to go help out with basketball," Seo said as she glanced down at her watch, ignoring the fact that someone was running towards them shouting as if it wasn't even happening. "Bye Sakura, Kashima." She waved her hand over her shoulder and walked off.

"Hori-senpai, wait!" Sakura pleaded, jumping in front of Kashima. "Just listen before you yell at her!" She threw her hands up between them as if that would be able to keep him there if he tried moving forward.

Hori stopped instantly and looked down at Sakura, asking her with no hint of malice in his voice, "What is it?"

"It's about the musical-…" Sakura began gently, but was cut off by Kashima jumping between them.

"I don't want to be in the musical, Hori-senpai!" Kashima proclaimed, looking down at him.

"Why not?" Hori asked, frowning. "I told you about it weeks ago…" Now he was irritated again, because he had worked hard to get a script written by Nozaki and then get the glee club to help put it into a musical format. Not to mention he and some of the other club advisors had to make sure they had permission to do some of the stunts in the play, since a scene required "flying" and they'd need to set up the equipment to make that necessary. "You have no idea how freaking hard we've worked on this," he began, but stopped when he saw how angry Kashima looked.

"I said I don't want to and you can't force me!" Kashima replied, glaring at him. It was easier this way, to pretend she wasn't interested, that way he'd never know the truth.

"Sakura…" Nozaki called out once he made it to where they were standing. "What's going on…?"

"She's telling him she doesn't want to be a part of the musical…" Sakura replied looking up at him.

"Let's leave." Nozaki suggested looking down at her.

"Wha-what, no, I can't leave now!" Sakura began, but Nozaki had grabbed her by the waist, threw her over his shoulder, and ran off. "Put me down!" In the background she could hear Hori shouting, "Then why didn't you say something sooner? Before we even planned one out!"

"Sorry…I just…I have a feeling that we need to put some distance between us and this fight." Nozaki said now that they were closer to the school and he set her down. Then he sat down and pulled out his notebook. "But this is perfect material for manga…" He said as he began to write down ideas about a fight.

"S-seriously?!" Sakura asked, looking at Nozaki with wide-eyes. "You're not at all worried about either of them?"

"Not particularly…" Nozaki replied, shaking his head. He could hear Kashima shouting, "Because I don't need to be in every play! Other people can do it!"

"Oh but you were worried about us..." Sakura said shaking her head.

"Well that's because you'd die of Kashima was thrown into you and I particularly am not fond of pain." Nozaki replied, not looking up from his notebook.

"I don't like musicals! They're stupid!" Kashima added on, not that that was the truth. She'd love to see one, but she couldn't be in one. "Let someone else do it! It's a waste of my time!" She said, really playing up the fact that she didn't want to do it. _I'm so sorry, senpai…_

Hori had been silent for a moment, just taking in what Kashima had said. "Fine," he replied slowly, shoving his hands into his pockets and walking off, "I'll do the lead role then…"

Kashima just stood in silence, watching as he walked off. When he was out of earshot she fell to her knees. "Why…why couldn't I just learn to sing well enough to try out and be told that someone else should play the role…? Why do I have to sing so badly that it'll make senpai's ears bleed and the rest of the club cry?"

"I'm going over there," Sakura said, moving away from Nozaki and heading over to Kashima, bending down beside her. "It'll be okay, though you should have just told him you can't sing."

"No! I can't do that! This way is better." Kashima replied, shaking her head. She wiped at the tears in the corner of her eyes and said. "He'll only hate me for a little bit…I hope." She forced a smile and said, "I'm going home."

"Let me walk with you," Sakura suggested.

"No, I want to be alone." Kashima replied, giving her a weak smile. "I'll see you Monday."

* * *

"Hey Kashima," Mikoshiba said as he walked into the classroom, finding Kashima sitting with her head down on her desk. "Are you okay?"

"Senpai hasn't talked to me all weekend and he didn't meet me at the train station like usual this morning," Kashima cried, turning her head to the side so she could look up at Mikoshiba.

"Oh my god your face!" Mikoshiba jumped back, stammering, "You look like a witch…or maybe a zombie…yea a zombie…" She had dark circles under her eyes and looked almost lifeless.

"I haven't slept much," Kashima replied, sitting up and stifling a yawn.

"You should go home." Mikoshiba said, frowning.

"We have a test today." Kashima said, yawning again. "Besides I have to go to club practice, we're talking about the one-acts we're going to do after the musical." She cringed at the word "musical."

"Ahh…so, what exactly did you do to senpai?" Mikoshiba asked as he sat down.

"I sort of yelled at him for thinking I'd be interested in a musical." Kashima said with a sigh. Mikoshiba knew the truth, she had admitted it to him at one point.

" _I give up…you're too perfect! Is there anything you're not good at?" Mikoshiba had cried as he sat in a corner, arms wrapped around his knees and head in his lap, after she had managed to avoid falling victim to the falling bucket of water prank he had set up. She had called to him from the other side of the door and stupidly he came out to her, having entirely forgotten about the prank because she had been challenging him to see who could sprint the track the fastest, proclaiming she could beat him even in a skirt (little did he know she had shorts on underneath). Of course, he got soaked._

" _I can't sing," Kashima had said to him, offering him a hand, "at all…" She gave him a weak smile and said, "You probably want to spread it to the whole school, don't you?"_

But he hadn't. Mikoshiba had kept her secret and she was grateful for it. "Basically, I told him all of his hard work was for nothing…" She said with a sigh.

"Why not just tell the truth?" Mikoshiba suggested, although he realized he would do the same thing if he were her.

"I can't…" Kashima said, shaking her head.

"Alright everyone, class is starting," their teacher said, bringing an end to their conversation that Kashima was grateful for.

* * *

"What do you mean you failed the test?" Mikoshiba asked, disbelief painting his face. "That's not even possible!" He said shaking his head.

"Aoyama-sensei just called me in and showed me the test…he said I can retake it, because it's not something he'd normally expect from me, and I apparently do look like a zombie…" Kashima replied with a sigh as they walked through the hall.

"Well I guess that's a good thing," Mikoshiba said, glancing around after he saw something flicker in the shadows. He jumped back some when he saw a group of eyes and said, "I think your fanclub is scared to come near you…"

"Huh, that explains a lot…" Kashima said, recalling how girls had almost practically ran off from her this morning and why despite it being the end of the day, no one had come near her yet.

"I definitely think you need to just tell senpai…" Mikoshiba said, watching as the girls moved from their hiding spot to another one. _This works out for me though…_ He thought, glad that none of the girl's had tried to approach him.

"I can't," Kashima said shaking her head, "just drop it." Once they reached the drama room she took a deep breath and said, "Thanks for walking with me. I'll see you tomorrow…"

As soon as she went into the room the girls swarmed around him, "Mikoshiba-kun! Mikoshiba-kun! What's wrong with Kashima-kun?!" Mikoshiba felt his body go hot and wished he could just run, but instead forced out in his most charming voice, "Why would you want Kashima when you could have me? Or am I too much for you to handle?" He felt the back of his neck heat up and his brain was screaming, _RUN!_ But the girls were too close, so he had to keep going.

* * *

Kashima moved over to her seat, accidentally making contact with Hori as she walked across the room and quickly averting her gaze to the floor. _Crap, he looks mad…_ She thought as she sat down.

"Thank you for coming everyone, today's meeting will be short because we're beginning rehearsal for the musical after the meeting. Remember, today is just brainstorming for the one-acts for the festival. They'll be by class year, so once we go over the ideas, we will having a drawing for which class gets what and then it's up to your classes to hold meetings and rehearsals." Hori said, periodically changing where he was looking so he didn't seem to be addressing one group of people; however, he ignored looking at Kashima. "Let's begin with suggestions."

 _Now's my chance. You have to speak to me here._ Kashima thought as her hand shot into the air. It was a couple seconds before anyone else's hand went into the air, but he chose them instead. She began to wave her hand a bit and point her fingers up even higher towards the ceiling, but he still picked someone else. _He's ignoring me!_ She thought, only to have her thoughts confirmed by the students sitting around her.

"Wow, he's definitely ignoring Kashima…" The girls beside her said, when Hori called on another person, even though everyone who had originally raised their hands after Kashima had already spoke and some of those people had already been called on for the second time.

"Senpai!" Kashima called out, standing up this time. "I have an idea!" Her hand was still raised and she had met her eyes. _Now you definitely have to respond to me!_

"Haruna-chan, go on," Hori said, turning slightly and pointing to the girl at his left. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the look of defeat fall across Kashima's face as she sank back down into her seat.

Haruna glanced over at Kashima and bit her lip, but went on anyways. "I was thinking, maybe we put those who don't usually act on as advisers, writers, and helpers for the classes. That also goes for those of us who might be too busy with a big role in the musical since the prep time for the one-acts and the musical are overlapping. We can put our names into a cup and draw on who gets what class."

"Alright, that sounds like a great idea." Hori replied, nodding. "Any other suggestions?" At this point he saw everyone look over at Kashima, who was sitting with her head in her lap and her hands over her face. But no one said anything.

 _Whyyyy…why senpai, do you really hate me that much?_ Kashima wondered, knowing now that she definitely lost her favorite kohai position.

"Alright, then we'll start the drawing. Start with the third years." Hori said, looking over at Haruna who had been writing down the ideas on craft sticks and putting them into a cup. "While we do that, if you're not going to participate in the plays but want to be an adviser, writer, or helper write your name on a stick and put it into this cup." He grabbed a handful of craft sticks from the desk Haruna had been sitting at and set them down on the desk beside him, then grabbed a cup from the small table full of supplies at the front of the room. He pulled a pen from his pocket and wrote his name on a stick, dropping it into the cup and watching as Haruna went around the room. The third years were cheering about the fact that they got Feudal Era Cinderella.

"Uh…Kashima, can you pull one of these for your class?" Haruna asked as she bent down in front of Kashima.

Kashima looked up and pulled a stick, handing it back over to Haruna. She looked on the verge of tears. "Here." She didn't care what it was.

"Hori-kun will get over whatever made him mad, don't worry." Haruna said, giving her a small smile before reading off the stick. "The second years will be doing High School Romeo and Juliet."

"That's perfect for Kashima!" One of the second year girls shouted. "She can be Romeo!"

"And Akagi-chan! She can play the Juilet!" A second year boy added. "Everyone agree?"

"Yes!" The rest of the second years agreed as they gathered around, nodding. "No need for auditions for them."

"Then it's settled." The girl who spoke first said, before launching into ideas.

"Hori-kun," Haruna said as she held out the cup to him, "we're drawing for advisers now."

"Oh okay," Hori replied. He hadn't been paying attention to the first years drawing, as he was silently agreeing with himself that Kashima was best fit for the role of Romeo, not only because of her skill but because it was in a high school setting and she was easily the most charming person in their high school. "Who's class are we drawing for?" He asked as he drew a stick.

"Second years," Haruna said as she watched him flip over the stick and stare in horror.

"No…draw again." Hori said as he stared down at his name. He didn't want to work with Kashima right now.

"Sorry, but fair is fair," Haruna said, shaking her head, "you'll just have to get over whatever it is that made you two fight." She drew another stick and then called out, "Hori-kun and Furuta-chan will be the advisors for the second years."

 _Crap…_ Hori thought as he shook his head and walked over to the second years. "Hey, Furuta-chan, you're not working on the musical right? How about you take the lead on this one. I'll just support you." He was sort of glad it worked out this way, so he didn't have to deal with Kashima as much.

 _Oh no…_ Kashima thought, looking at Hori in horror as he took a seat by them. She cast her gaze to the floor and listened as Hori and Furuta spoke.

"Sounds like a good idea," Furuta said, nodding, "so, how about we meet tomorrow after the musical rehearsal is over? Sounds good?" When everyone agreed she nodded and said, "Then I'll get working on a sample script tonight using the ideas we pitched. Those of you who have ideas, please write them down. We'll assign more writers tomorrow and do some reading from the actual Romeo and Juliet so we can figure out who'd be best for what role, ok?"

"Okay!" Everyone agreed, talking about a few other things they had to prepare and within a half an hour the room was empty, leaving only Kashima.

"This is awful…" She thought, biting her lip. "Completely awful…senpai hates me…and now he's going to be working on our play with us!" She pulled out her phone and texted Chiyo. _Help!_

* * *

"Wow, senpai is really good!" Kashima mused as she watched Hori take the stage. Some of the glee club had tried out as well, so they were acting as the background cast, making Hori's seem taller considering they were all girls so he fit the lead role perfectly without her in the way. "I wish he could act more." Her and Chiyo were sitting in the back of the room watching. She was so glad that she couldn't been seen from the stage or Hori would probably tell her to leave.

"I think he likes working on the sets more," Sakura said, looking over at Kashima, "at least that's how it looks to me. But he is really good at this too." They fell into a silence when Hori began to sing and the glee club began the background chorus. It was beautiful. The only way it could be better was if they had succeeded in roping Seo into the play, but she refused. They had watched their practices for a couple days now, since Hori had refused to speak with Kashima and she had been dying to see him in any way.

"Chiyo-chan," Kashima said after a moment of silence, not taking her eyes off of Hori, "Do you think he'll hate me forever?"

"No," Sakura replied shaking her head, "he'll forgive you. He always does, right?"

"I hope you're right." Kashima replied, looking over and smiling at her. She couldn't help but smile, because getting to watch Hori act made her happy and the idea that he'd forgive her also made her happy. Mikoshiba, Chiyo, and Haruna all seemed very convinced he'd forgive her, so maybe he would.

* * *

"Alright guys, that was great," Hori said, thanking everyone for attending their first meeting for the one-act play, "thanks for coming. We'll meet again tomorrow, same time. You can go now." When Kashima began to leave the room, he ran over and grabbed her by the collar. "Except you." He said, his voice seething with irritation. "What's with you and that stupid grin you've had on your face all practice?"

"Senpai! You don't hate me!" Kashima shouted, spinning around and hugging him. She had been grinning because she was so happy about seeing him perform earlier and what Chiyo had said. "You paid attention to me!"

"Let go of me!" Hori screamed, trying to push her back, but he grip was too tight. "And who wouldn't notice that stupid grin?!"

"Senpai, your singing is great! So is your acting!" Kashima cheered as she spun him around.

"Let me go!" Hori shouted, feeling like a rag-doll as she continued to spin him. "I'm going to throw up if you don't!"

Kashima set him down and continued smiling at him. "That part was made for you!" She said breathlessly.

"No! It was made for _you_!" Hori shouted clenching his fists and meeting her eyes, before his face turned bright red when he realized what he said.

"What do you mean…?" Kashima asked, titling her head to the side. "Like, it was written for me…?"

"Yes, you idiot!" Hori sighed, smacking his forehead with the palm of his hand. "It took forever to perfect too!" He said, shaking his head from side to side while still holding his palm to his forehead.

"I…I'm sorry senpai," Kashima replied, looking down at her feet. "I…I can't sing…" She admitted, feeling her face turn extremely red.

"You can't sing?" Hori asked in a confused tone, letting his hand fall to his side. Kashima, not good at something? That was a first. But of course, she was human. She couldn't be good at everything after all. It was just surprising.

"I understand if you hate me." Kashima said, not looking up at him and feeling her face redden even more.

"Hate you?" Hori asked, raising an eyebrow. For some reason he felt extremely bad seeing her like that and knowing that's what she thought all this time. "I don't hate you. I was mad, yes…and still am, because I wish you'd have told me that a long time ago, but I don't hate you."

"Really?" Kashima looked up at him, eyes lighting up as she grabbed his hands and smiled at him. "You really don't hate me?!"

"Of course not, stupid." Hori replied, yanking his hands back. But he gave her a small smile anyways. "But, because you didn't tell me the truth you're going to have to help out with the play do stage crew, you realize that right?"

"Okay! I'll do anything! As long as I get to see senpai act!" Kashima said, beaming.

Hori chuckled. "Just wait till you see how much really goes into it, you won't be thanking me then. Now let me see how bad that singing of yours is…" Just as he said it, Sakura and Nozaki came running in.

"DON'T DO IT!" They both shouted, as Nozaki tackled Kashima and covered her mouth and Sakura pushed Hori against a wall, threw her hands up and covered his ears. "SHE'S AWFUL! YOU'LL DIE!" They both warned in unison. Where they came from neither of them had any clue, but Hori was certain they had been listening from the hall the entire time.

* * *

"This is awesome!" Kashima whispered with a grin to Chiyo and Nozaki, who were both helping out with the stage crew. "Senpai is so cool!" They were up on the balcony above the stage and Kashima was dropping handfuls of feathers down while Chiyo was watching for the signal from below to stop.

Nozaki couldn't respond, because he was too busy keeping Hori up in the air and had promised him he wouldn't speak to anyone while he was working the rig, unless it was about something that might be going wrong. Which Hori had made sure to tell him multiple times.

" _If you drop me, I will haunt your ass forever!"_ _Hori had warned, taking him by the shoulders and shaking him. "So do. not. talk. Watch me. Only talk to people if they're saying something needs to be done for my safety…because if I don't die from that fall, I will kill you!"_

" _I won't let you fall," Nozaki had assured him, "I have a deadline and you still have backgrounds to work on."_

"He is pretty cool," Sakura agreed, watching as Hori landed on the stage and delivered his final lines, "and I told you he would listen to the truth."

"Yea…but he made me do a lot of work for the past two months. Both here and in the rehearsal for the one-act." Kashima replied, still smiling though. She was happy she got to see him so much and that he didn't hate her for not being able to sing.

* * *

 **FIN**

 **A/N:** Also rather late, since it's a couple hours into day 3 now...but this was it for day 2!

 **A/N 2:** Also, it dawned on me, in the manga Mikoshiba thinks the reason that Kashima refuses to do karaoke is because of the fact that he thinks she can only sing "niche anime songs." But in the anime, it's only Sakura, Seo, and Nozaki who find out she can't sing. So, this is where there's a bit of deviation from the manga.


	3. Star

**Summary:** Hori has been asked to fill in as one of the leading roles in the upcoming play. However, it's a challenging role for both him and Kashima to deal with, considering there's a kiss scene and both of them continually find themselves too flustered to act properly without one or the other getting hurt in some way. Hori and Kashima fluff!

 **A/N:** Here's my one-shot for the Horikashi week 2015, day 3 prompt "star." At this point I'm just late and have come to terms with it.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun or any of its characters, this is a fan work.

* * *

 **3\. Star**

"Why can't you just come on time like a normal person?" Hori sighed as he dragged an almost lifeless Kashima along behind him, away from a group of teary-eyed girls and towards the drama room. When he opened the door he saw the vice president standing in the middle of the room, staring down at a script looking like she was going to cry. He let go of Kashima's arm, depositing her on the floor, and moved over, "What's the matter, Haruna-chan?"

"Sazama-chan broke her leg and we don't have any who can fill in for her this close to the play!" Haruna said sobbing into the script. "We might have to cancel."

"Hori-chan-senpai can do it!" Kashima volunteered as she popped up alongside Hori, grabbing him by the arm and raising his hand for him. "I nominate senpai!" She said cheerfully with a big grin across her face. Despite the fact that he had dealt her quite a blow to the head in the hall, she had sprung back to life immediately at the idea that Hori could play a part in the play. Especially since he'd get to play a girl in the play, which was secretly his dream; well, he'd sort of get to play a girl, considering it was a body swap play. Basically, he'd have to pretend to be a girl in the opening and ending scenes, since during the middle of the play he'd just be acting as a boy who was trying to deal with being in a girl's body. The point was that he'd have to dress like a girl for the play and surely that'd make him happy enough.

Hori pulled his arm back and growled, "Shut up Kashima, it's a girl's role!" He smacked her on the side of the head, but that didn't get rid of the disturbing grin she had on her face.

"She has a point though…you'd be perfect for the role since you memorize lines so fast and have been a good stand in for every role we've needed you for so far." Haruna interrupted. "Besides, you'd mainly be acting as a confused boy in a girl's body. So, to be honest, it's absolutely perfect to have a guy play that role." She said, before dropping to her knees, setting the script down beside her. "Please do it president!" She begged, holding her hands together and bowing. "Please!"

"Yes! Yes! Do it!" Kashima cheered, clenching her fist together and holding it out in front of her. She was playing the role of the girl who swapped into the boy's body. It had been a challenging role for her to get down, because she had to pretend to not be comfortable as the "popular boy" and be weirded out by acting like a boy, obviously something that was totally the opposite of how she was in real life. But, the role had been perfect for her because in the opening of the play and the end of the play she was supposed to pretend to be the boy and act princely. She obviously fit his description far better than any of the other club members did.

"Fine," Hori sighed, shaking his head as he grabbed the script from the ground, "but just because we've put a lot of work into this." He glared over at Kashima, "And _you_ , if you say anything about this, I swear I will send you into next week."

Kashima just smiled and said, "This is going to be fun!" She moved behind Hori so she could look over his shoulder and was scanning over the script as he flipped through it, only to freeze when she remembered there was a kiss scene. _Oh no, I forgot about that!_ She thought, turning extremely red. It was supposed to be a passionate kiss, not some quick thing or a kiss on the hand too.

 _Wait, there's a kiss in this, isn't there?_ Hori thought as he flipped towards the end, eyes widening when it was confirmed. _Fuck!_ He thought; his face was turning a deep shade of crimson.

"Anyways," Haruna said as she pulled herself off of the ground and wiped off her uniform, "let's get practicing. I don't think you two will have a problem pulling off the hate part. It's the ending that'll be more challenging." She looked over at the two of them, who were both red faced. It was interesting to see Kashima blushing since it wasn't something she did very often.

Both Kashima and Hori looked up at Haruna and glared at her. She was making fun of the fact that they'd have to kiss.

"Let's get started then," Hori said, forcing himself to calm down. He was very aware that he liked Kashima, but he hadn't wanted her to know that. Not yet anyways.

 _He's okay with this?_ Kashima wondered staring at Hori's back as he moved over to the stage. _Of course, he's an actor, why wouldn't he be? Plus we can just do a stage kiss. …Yea, he'd just grab my face and cover my lips with his thumbs, right? Besides, who do you think you are, Mikoshiba? This is nothing to be nervous about!_

"Kashima, get over here!" Hori called out as he moved to the middle of the stage. "We're going to start with the swap."

"Oh, okay!" Kashima said, nodding and bounding up to the stage. This part was easy. "There you are Hikari," she said, grinning as she leaned up against the background which had lockers painted on it, "were you hiding in the library again?" The story was that her character, Karou, was supposed to have been childhood friends with Hikari and once they entered high school they had a falling out because he had become popular and started acting like he was a hot-shot. Then one day after a fight that led to the two of them almost being expelled from school they ended up wishing on a star that the other would stop being so inconsiderate of the other, causing them to be forced to live life in the other's body for a week.

"W-what does it matter?" Hori stammered as he read Hikari's lines, looking away from Kashima, "W-what are you doing here, Karou? Where's your followers?" _These lines are incredibly cheesy, what the hell Nozaki?_

"Gone home for the day," Kashima said as she reached out to grab Hori's chin and grinned down at him. She went to speak, but suddenly she felt nervous because she was thinking about the fact that there was a kiss scene again. "Ah, sorry…" she murmured, pulling back from Hori, "I forgot my line." _Why is this making me nervous? I kiss people's hands all the time…and I've kissed his before._ She wondered, chewing on her lower lip. _I've never been nervous before thinking about something like this, so why now?_

Hori took a deep breath once Kashima had walked away to grab her script from her bag. _God, this will be awkward._ He thought to himself as he continued reading through the play. Basically Hikari was supposed to get mad at Karou for treating her like she was one of his fangirls and for leaving her behind when she needed him to be there for her.

"Okay, I got it now," Kashima said as she moved back onto the stage. "Let's continue." She said, taking her place again and they started the scene once more. Once she got the part where she had stopped, she said, "That leaves the two of us alone my delicate flower…"

"Stop it!" Hori shouted, pushing Kashima back. He clenched his fist and held it up in front of him, making a mental note that if he wasn't holding the script his other hand would be doing the same thing. "Stop treating me like all of those stupid girls who follow you like sheep! It's annoying! And you think it makes up for the fact that you ditched me for your new friends or that you left me waiting for you for two hours at the train station on the day that I needed you to be there for me the most?!" He felt awkward at first trying to sound like a girl, but somehow he managed to fall into a voice he felt would fit. "You're a jerk!" He cried, bringing his arm closer and closing his eyes tightly.

"That wasn't my fault!" Kashima called breathlessly, reaching out for his arm. "You know that I didn't leave you there on purpose, you just refused to listen to me explain!"

"Don't touch me!" Hori yanked his arm back and pushed her backwards, into the wooden prop that they were using for a practice trophy case.

Kashima fell backwards into it, hearing it crack open and letting out a cry of pain as something sharp pierced her hand. The real prop was supposed to fall and the fake glass was supposed to break, but not snap in half. This one was supposed to be sturdy enough for them to keep knocking over for rehearsal. A nail had come loose and that was what had gone through her palm. She had pulled it away and began to cradle it with her uninjured hand.

"Shit, are you alright, Kashima?" Hori asked in an uneven voice as he rushed to her side. "Let me see your hand," he said as he forced himself to be calm, gingerly taking it in his own, "I'm so sorry…I didn't realize I pushed you so hard." He said softly, not meeting her eyes. She was supposed to fall backwards into it herself, but he must have used too much force in his shove. He was so used to her being able to take stuff like that that it hadn't even crossed his mind that he might be using too much strength.

"It's okay, senpai." Kashima said shaking her head. There were tears in her eyes, but she wasn't letting herself actually cry. "It wasn't you. I let myself fall backwards too fast, that's all." The prop they were supposed to break was going to be made with candy designed to look like glass so that it would break easily when she fell into it. That design made it so that she didn't have to use too much of her weight and would minimize the chances of her getting hurt. Basically she just had to use enough weight to knock over the frame they would put the "glass" into so that if she didn't break the candy herself it would break when the prop fell. She hadn't even expected the practice prop to break so readily.

"Oh my god, this play is cursed!" Haruna cried as she ran over with the first-aid kit. "Are you okay, Kashima?" She asked, watching as Hori took the kit from her hands.

"Aside from my hand I'm fine." Kashima replied, giving her a reassuring smile despite the fact that she wanted to cry from the pain. That nail had been pretty thick. Luckily the nail hadn't stayed in her hand, although she felt like there was definitely something in there still. Maybe it was her imagination, considering her entire hand was throbbing and shooting pain was going up her arm.

Hori grabbed antiseptic spray and said, "This is going to burn." He sprayed her hand and watched her wince, then very loosely wrapped a cloth bandage around it. The nurse would want to take a better look at it, so he didn't bother with gauze; especially because he didn't want to risk pushing anything further into her hand if there was something he hadn't seen. "You had a tetanus recently, right?" It was a requirement to be up-to-date on your shots for the school, but you could never be too sure.

"Yea." Kashima replied with a nod. She was still holding back tears.

* * *

"Okay that's good. Let's get you to the nurse now." Hori said, bringing her up to her feet. He looked over at Haruna and said, "Have the extras practice with stand-ins for me and Kashima right now and I'll tell you what's going on after the nurse looks at her hand."

"Senpai, you can go home," Kashima said as she glanced over at Hori, "you don't have to wait with me here." They had gone to the hospital since it seemed that a piece of the nail had broken off in Kashima's hand and she needed it to be removed. They had been there forever, just waiting in an examination room. Her hand wasn't even bleeding now, but she knew she'd need stitches once they removed the nail.

"This is my fault to begin with and besides, they haven't been able to contact your parents." Hori replied, shifting so he was crossing his left arm over the right one now and doing the same with his legs.

"I told you, I fell into it. You barely pushed me." Kashima replied, frowning. "And my parents are probably still on their plane." They were going to America for the wedding of one of their college friends.

"I understand that part…" Hori said shaking his head. "It's the stupid prop. I should have made it instead of letting one of the first years work on it." How could he have been so careless? He always worked on things that Kashima was going to be using if she had to stand on them or if there was a chance that she'd get hurt if they broke, even if they were just for practice.

"That doesn't make it your fault." Kashima shook her head and she shifted a bit on the examination table. Her legs were falling asleep. "Besides, don't you have homework or something?"

"Don't worry about that…how are you going to do yours though, that's the hand you write with isn't it?" Hori asked, nodding towards her hand.

"Yea, I'll figure something out." Kashima replied with a shrug. "I'm glad I can still do the play though. Haruna-senpai would lose her mind trying to come up with someone to play Karou."

Hori chuckled. "I'm sure she's at home crying about how this play is cursed." Then he remembered he shouldn't be laughing, because it was his fault Kashima was here. "How about this…" Hori began as he grabbed her bag and pulled out the folder he knew she put her homework in. "You tell me what you'd write. You'll just have to explain to the teachers why it's not your handwriting."

"Okay," Kashima said, nodding, "let's start with English then…are you good at spelling in English?"

"Pretty decent," Hori said getting up and moving over, getting up onto the examination table and sitting beside her, "Just tell me if I'm doing something you wouldn't do."

"Okay, we only have to do the back page." Kashima said, reaching over with her uninjured hand and flipping the paper over. She brushed his hand a bit when she did so and blushed. _Do I like him…?_ She wondered, looking over at him as he was reading the first question aloud. Her heart was fluttering now that she really looked at him and realized the answer was yes. Yes she did. And she has for awhile now. _How didn't I notice that?_

"Oh wait," Kashima said pulling herself from her thoughts and suddenly leaning forward. Hori had just turned back to look at her so she smacked her cheek and nose against his face. "Oww..." She murmured, bringing her hand to cover her nose.

"What was that?!" Hori asked, covering his nose as well. He was fairly certain it was bleeding from how hard she had hit him.

"I'm sorry senpai...are you alright?!" Kashima asked, moving her hand away from her nose when she saw blood running down his wrist. She got off of the examination table and grabbed a box of tissues, pulling some out and handing them over. "I'm so sorry! I just meant to tell you that this wasn't due tomorrow and we could start something else..."

"Next time...use your words..." Hori said, taking the tissues from her and pressing them to his nose. He used his other hand to grab another tissue and wipe the blood from his arm. "At least we're in the emergency room already...not that I think this is that serious."

"I'm sorry senpai!" Kashima cried, bowing her head some. She heard the door open and a nurse came in.

The nurse just stared for a moment, taking in Kashima's bandaged hand and Hori's bloody nose, and then said, "Which one of you is actually the patient?"

* * *

"Man, we were there an awfully long time." Hori remarked as they headed up from the subway to the street. He opened his umbrella and moved closer to Kashima so that she'd be covered too.

"Are you really going to walk to my house with me?" Kashima asked, looking over at Hori. "I'll be fine on my own." She was blushing a tiny bit, glad for the cover of darkness now. It was harder to hide her embarrassment now that she realized how she really felt. It was so easy to be calm and collected when you weren't actually crushing on the people you were flirting with.

"It's pretty late; I'd feel better if I did. Besides, it's been pouring all day and you didn't bring an umbrella." Hori replied looking up at her and giving her a small smile. He felt his phone go off and pulled it out, looking down at the texts. _Oh right, Nozaki._ He was supposed to help him with backgrounds tonight. He quickly texted him back, _Sorry, something came up. I'll come tomorrow._

 _If the trains are running tomorrow. It seems there's flooding in some areas. But we have time._ Nozaki replied back.

"That your parents?" Kashima wondered, stifling a yawn.

"No. My parents are asleep…they think I'm at Nozaki's. I sort of forgot about them." Hori replied shaking his head and yawning as well. He replied to Nozaki real quick and then put his phone away.

"Stay at my house," Kashima offered as they turned a corner.

Hori blushed a bit, "I don't think so…"

"Why not? You can sleep in the living room. My sister is with our grandparents, so no one will even know you were there if that's what you're worried about." Kashima replied, glancing over at him. "And the rain seems to be picking up."

"Somehow that makes it sound worse…" Hori replied shaking his head. He was so tired though and he figured he'd have to get a taxi, since the trains would probably stop running soon, so it honestly didn't seem like too bad of an idea. "But I guess you're right." It didn't take them long to reach Kashima's house. Once they were inside, Hori took his shoes off, slid on a pair of slippers, and followed her into the rest of the house. He had been there a few times, mainly to yell at her for going home instead of going to drama club, but also to bring her work when she had missed school. Mikoshiba would have done it, but he had stopped him and offered to do it as an excuse to see her.

"Are you hungry?" Kashima asked as she turned on the lights. "I have some leftover stew from last night."

"That sounds good," Hori said, stifling a yawn. "So does anything right now though."

"Wait in the living room and I'll bring something out." Kashima said, trying not to yawn from watching him yawn. "You can turn on the tv."

Hori headed into the living room, sitting down on the couch. He grabbed the remote and turned on the TV, switching to the news. "Oh hey, schools are closed," he called out when he saw the banner at the bottom of the screen, "I think ours might be one of them." Just as he had said it he got a text and looked down at it, chuckling.

 _THIS IS AWFUL! SCHOOL IS CLOSED TOMORROW! HOW WILL WE PRACTICE?!_ Haruna had texted, followed by a slew of crying emojis, and he imagined she was lying on her bedroom floor in a pool of tears. Or on her computer trying to find the superintendents number so she could tell them they couldn't close the school in an angry worded e-mail.

"Looks like it is," he corrected, looking up as Kashima returned.

"That's good. Now you don't have to do homework." Kashima said as she handed him a mug of hot chocolate. "The stew should be done heating up in a couple minutes." She said as she moved back into the kitchen and got her mug, since she couldn't carry two with an injured hand.

"Haruna-chan is freaking out." Hori said when she returned laughing before taking a sip of his hot chocolate. "Though I guess she does have a point, considering we need to practice…or at least I do."

"Well, we can practice here." Kashima suggested, setting her drink down and sitting down. "I mean, we have the most parts anyways. The others should be okay missing a day or two of practice."

"True." Hori agreed, setting his drink down as well. He was more awake now that they weren't just sitting around in the emergency room or walking in the dark while it was raining. "Want to go over some lines now since today was sort of wasted?" He thought about it for a second and realized he left his script at school. "Oh wait, my script is in the drama room..."

"We can use mine." Kashima said, getting up. She went to the entryway and grabbed her backpack, taking out her script. Once she returned she said, "I have my lines memorized so you can use my script." She handed him the script.

Hori took the booklet and opened it, seeing her notes neatly printed in the margins and areas she had highlighted and underlined. Hikari's part had some lines underlined, with notes on what she should be doing while she listened to her talk on the side. "Did you really write "stare at her boobs" here?"

"Huh?" Kashima asked, blinking and grabbing the script. "I didn't write that, Seo did." She shook her head. "I was asking her what she thought I should do to make it seem like I don't understand how men act, since this is where I'm Hikari in Karou's body."

"Ah right…that makes more sense." Hori replied, thinking about how crude she could be sometimes according to what Wakamatsu told him and the few experiences he had of being near her. "I guess I should ask Nozaki, Wakamatsu, and Mami…koshiba what they think it's like being a girl." Hori said, thinking about how sometimes they were just so far off base when it came to thinking like a girl. It was a wonder Nozaki managed to write a successful shoujo manga in the first place.

"Mikoshiba will give you horrible answers. Go for it." Kashima said, laughing. She heard the timer go off in the kitchen and got up. "Find a spot you want to start." She said as she headed off into the kitchen.

"Will you just stop?!" Hori shouted, grabbing Kashima by the arm. They were rehearsing the ending of the play now and at this point Hikari and Karou were arguing after Karou had confronted Hikari about how awful her home life had become. He felt awful and was upset about how she hadn't confided in him when things had started to get bad, before they had their falling out. Hikari had told him it was none of his business and tried to leave. "Stop trying to run away and listen to me!" He said, spinning her towards him. "Had I known any of those things, do you think I would have let our friendship fall apart so easily?"

"Stop it! Stop it!" Kashima shouted back, trying to yank her arm free. "You're just trying to get me to listen to you by playing up the prince act! It's not so charming in my body though, so it won't work on me!"

"I'm not!" Hori said, moving closer. "You were my best friend in middle school and then I was stupid. I pushed you away by acting like someone I'm not for popularity and I realize that now. But I'm not going to let you go now, Hikari…" He placed a hand on Kashima's cheek and said, "I love you. So don't go."

Kashima froze, forgetting her lines. She was supposed to yell at him and tell him something about how she didn't believe him. Instead she just stared down at him.

"Kashima, your lines," Hori reminded her, though he honestly had no idea what she was supposed to say. He just knew it was something. The kiss was still a couple seconds away.

"R-right…" Kashima stammered, nodding. She pushed him back and quickly turned away, "I don't believe a word you're saying!" That wasn't her lines, but improvising worked too.

"It's true!" Hori said, moving in front of her and grabbing her uninjured hand. "I always have. I'm just an idiot who wouldn't admit to it." He went to spin her around, only to realize she was slipping on the script he had set on the floor. He caught her and held her there for a second and stared at her. Without thinking he leaned in to kiss her.

Kashima's eyes widened and for a second she didn't know what to think. Was this real? Was this acting? Then she decided whatever it was, she liked it and leaned into the kiss.

After a moment they pulled apart and Hori went to move away, realizing what had just happened. _That was just acting._ He thought, but before he could fully turn away Kashima had grabbed his tie and pulled him back into a kiss. _Or maybe not…_ He brought both hands to her face and deepened the kiss. When they broke apart he said, "Want to try that scene again?"

"Only if we can skip to the end." Kashima said, laughing.

"Whatever you want," Hori replied with a smile. He took her hand and brought her over to the couch, sitting down beside her. He was about to lean in to kiss her again when the power went out and instead they just bumped heads. "Ouch…" He murmured, placing a hand on his forehead.

"Hey now, we need to be more careful. We can't have both stars of the play injured now can we?" Kashima said chuckling, rubbing her own head as she got up, opening the curtains. The lightning storm outside should provide them enough light to not trip over each other and die. She sat back down beside him and said. "Lightning is my favorite."

"I like it too." Hori replied, bringing an arm around her. "As long as neither of us gets struck by it at the rate we're going today." He said chuckling and leaned in to kiss her again.

* * *

 **FIN**

 **A/N:** I had a nail go through my hand once. Let me tell you, it hurts. Badly. Very badly.


	4. Touch

**Summary:** Hori is graduating soon and in order to cope with the end of an era, both he and Kashima try to maximize what little time they have left. They also try to come to terms with what they plan to do with their feelings for each other and how to proceed with the future.

 **A/N** : Here's my one-shot for the Horikashi week 2015, day 4 prompt "touch". I had been looking forward to writing for this prompt for awhile!

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun or any of its characters, this is a fan work.

* * *

 **4\. Touch**

"Hey Kashima-kun!" Sakura called out cheerfully as she headed over to the blue-haired girl, pausing beside her to take a look at the board she was looking at when she didn't answer, wondering what was so interesting. She glanced up at Kashima and then followed her gaze to the poster she was staring at, reading it. In bold it said, " _Graduation is just around the corner third years! Keep working hard!"_ Underneath it were details about the graduation and things that the third years had to do to prepare. _Oh_ … She thought, looking back up and seeing the bittersweet look in Kashima's eyes. _She's thinking about Hori-senpai…_

Kashima had been staring at the poster for a couple minutes by now and when she realized how long she had been transfixed by it she had to force herself to pull away. "O-oh, Chiyo-chan!" She stammered, looking down at her orange-haired friend and forcing a smile. "I didn't see you!"

 _Do I ask her if she's sad?_ Sakura wondered, but before she could say anything she was being whisked away by her friend who had grabbed her hand.

"Come with me!" Kashima said excitedly as she dragged her friend towards the drama room. "Hori-senpai is acting in the upcoming play!" She said, a grin spreading across her face and eyes sparkling. "It's the last play of the year and everyone wanted to see him in it!"

Sakura smiled. She couldn't help it because Kashima just was so happy whenever she talked about Hori-senpai's acting there was no way it wouldn't radiate onto others. It was at times like this that she realized why Kashima was the prince of the school, even though she still preferred Nozaki over her. It was just that Kashima had a way of making others feel good and had she not been in love with Nozaki since the day of the entrance ceremony, she'd likely be one of Kashima's fans.

"It's so cool, because senpai and I get the most parts!" Kashima went on fervently. "Except he's supposed to hate me, because I'm playing the cute younger brother prince that outshines the heir in every way; at least until the point when the older brother shows how good of a leader he can be." She said as they turned a corner. "Senpai tried to get me to play that role, but everyone else said I was perfect for the younger prince. I think so too, because I think senpai is good at playing characters that really surprise you." She said before opening the doors, beaming when she saw Hori was on the stage practicing the biggest speech of the play. In his speech he was supposed to be rallying his men to fight for their kingdom despite their pitifully low number of men and the fact that her character had been shot down at this point and was on the verge of death. It was her favorite part of the play, because he delivered the lines with such passion. She couldn't help but think of how it made him look extremely attractive.

"…we cannot forgive them men! What they have done to our lands, our wives, our daughters, and our countrymen is absolutely unforgivable!" Hori said, clenching his fist and stepping forward. "Although they outnumber us, we hold the home advantage. We know our lands far better than those invaders and we can use it to lead them into a trap that will decimate their numbers and starve out the remaining men until they surrender! Now who's with me?" He shouted the last line, making his voice echo through the room, and then paused long enough that if he weren't acting alone at the moment the other actors could reply with cheers. "Then let's fight, men! Let's march onward into battle once more! This time follow me, just as you followed my brother and trusted him with your lives!"

Kashima was absolutely ecstatic watching him. "Awesome!" She said, clapping and causing Hori to look over at her.

"I was wondering where you were," Hori called out as he got off of the stage. He glanced at the clock and said, "Once again you're actually early. I'm surprised." He had a free period at the end of the day and he had asked the club advisor to give him a pass to come down here. He wanted to practice the speech alone, just as he had done for the past few days. He wanted to be sure he got it perfect, as this was the point in the play where the audience was supposed to be won over by his character. If he failed here, then the rest of the play would be a flop, especially because Kashima's character was supposed to die.

"I wanted to practice with you before the rest of the club got here, because I have some questions about how I should act." Kashima said, although that wasn't the truth. The truth was after the next four weeks, third years only had to come to club meetings if they wanted to help the second and first years figure out their plans for next year. She knew he'd be at the meetings because he was the club president, but she wanted to see him act, not see him hold the votes for who will be next year's president and then let them hold the last few meetings as he supervised in the background. That would just be depressing.

Sakura just smiled as she listened to them talk. _I bet she's trying to maximize the time she has with you._ She thought, before saying, "That was awesome Hori-senpai!" She glanced over at Kashima and asked, "Can I watch you two?"

"Of course," Kashima replied smiling.

"Thanks," Hori said, smiling at her, "oh…while you're here. Would you mind helping us out with some of the props? We're painting the set starting on Wednesday and we could really use someone as skilled as you."

"Sure, I'd love to help." Sakura nodded.

"Thanks, you're awesome." Hori replied, before turning back to Kashima. "Want to practice the stabbing scene?"

"Sounds good to me!"

* * *

"Kashima-kun, you look absolutely awful!" Sakura gasped when she saw Kashima come into the drama club room. She was red faced and had puffy eyes, making her look very unprincely. "Are you sick?"

"What? No, I'm fine!" Kashima replied shaking her head, absolutely denying the fact that she could be sick. "Really, I'm fine..." She said in an unconvincing tone, forcing a smile before wobbling off towards the stage, trying not to sniffle.

Sakura frowned, but she didn't say anything. She knew she'd do the same thing. Instead she moved over to sit and watch the rehearsal, having nothing else to do until she waited for the stage crew to start working. It didn't bother her though, because this play was turning out really well. Hori and Kashima were born with talent.

"So, we're going to do the scene where Prince Alexander gets stabbed," Haruna, the vice president, called out as she moved in front of the stage.

"Okay," Hori said, before looking over at Kashima and the boy who was supposed to stab her. Kashima seemed to be wobbling a bit as she picked up her sword and he frowned, wondering if she was feeling alright. He watched her get up on the saw horse they were using as her stead and sit down, biting his lip. She looked very uneasy.

"Brother!" Kashima called out as she leaned forward, grabbing onto the saddle in front of her for support and trusting out her other hand. "Watch behind you!"

Hori instantly went into acting mode, turning to look towards the oncoming danger and bringing up his sword to meet the guy coming at him. He turned back to look at Kashima and shouted, "Alexander!"

Kashima felt the fake sword come underneath her arm and dropped hers, making a gagging noise and falling towards the side. "I'm…okay…" She began, looking down at the sword she was now holding underneath her armpit. "I'm okay…" She said again, looking up and smiling. For some reason everything was blurring, the way she assumed it would happen if she had really been impaled like her character had and then there was darkness, followed by a falling sensation.

"Kashima!" Hori shouted, dropping his sword and running over as soon as he saw her falling. He caught her, but still fell over himself. Either way, Kashima didn't hit the stage and that was all that mattered to him. "Kashima, are you okay?" He asked, looking down at her in his arms. She didn't respond and he realized she was out cold. "Kashima, wake up." He said, placing a hand on her cheek and shaking her head a bit. She didn't wake up and he knew why now. He could tell just by touching her that she was burning up. "I'm going to take her to the nurse." He said, standing up with her in his arms.

"Oh no…" Sakura murmured, covering her mouth with her hands. _I shouldn't have let her go up there after all!_ She felt horrible now. She had been so sick that she passed out and it was because she had let her go up there. On top of that if she had fallen off of that "horse", she could have been badly injured. _I'm a terrible friend…_ She thought.

* * *

Kashima felt like she was floating and opened her eyes slowly, seeing nothing but a bright light at first, and then suddenly she was looking straight up at Hori. "Senpai…" She murmured softly. "What happened…?"

"You passed out," Hori said, relief flooding through him now that he knew she was awake. "Why didn't you tell anyone you weren't feeling well?" He asked, meeting her eyes. She was having trouble keeping them open.

"I'm sorry, senpai. I just wanted to see you act and not lose valuable time." Kashima said, trying to force her eyes to stay open. "I'm sorry. I'm okay now though. I can walk the rest of the way to the nurse."

Hori sighed. "You're going to cost us more time if you keep pushing yourself. I'll keep carrying you."

Kashima blushed a bit, glad that her face was already probably pretty red to begin with so he wouldn't notice the difference. "But what if you get sick?" She asked, frowning.

"Then I deal with it. But right now I'm not the one you need to worry about." Hori said, shaking his head.

"But the play needs you." Kashima said, still trying to force her eyes to stay open.

"And it needs you too. So, promise me this, you focus on getting better right now and if I get sick, I'll focus on getting better. That way we will only waste the time we absolutely have to waste." Hori said as they stopped and he set her down on a chair that was sitting outside of the glee club room. Apparently they were having tryouts.

"Okay," Kashima replied, nodding slowly and blushing even more. She realized she hadn't been talking about wasting rehearsal time as much as she had been talking about wasting what little remaining time she had with him before he graduated and moved on. His graduating would mean he'd be forgetting about high school and the people in it; forgetting about her. It made her sad to think about it, because she had always known she had feelings for him, but at the same time she was happy for him because he was moving onto a new part of his life. She'd always be happy for him, as long as he was happy. Even if that happiness didn't involve her.

"Earth to Kashima," Hori said, waving hand in front of her face, "I asked if you wanted me to just take you home, because that's basically all the nurse will tell you to do, aside from rest more and get more fluids."

"But what about practice?" Kashima asked, knowing he had to get back.

"I can come back once I've gotten you home." Hori said, already texting Haruna about using a stand in for him for the others to practice right now. "Here, I'll carry you on my back," He offered, bending in front of her so she could get on. He felt her get on and wrapped his arms around her legs once she was on his back, then stood up straight and began to walk.

Kashima rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. "Thank you, senpai." She said softly. She was so tired and it felt nice to just be near him.

* * *

"Kashima, wake up," Hori said, gently shaking her awake. She was lying against his shoulder on the train and they'd be at their stop soon.

Kashima opened her eyes and then shut them quickly. The train was too bright. "Are we almost there?" She asked, sitting up and rubbing at her closed eyes.

"Yea," Hori replied nodding and taking her hand as he stood up. He brought her up to her feet and put an arm around her waist to help support her as they walked towards the doors.

Kashima brought an arm around his shoulder and leaned into him. When the doors opened they got off and headed up towards the surface.

"Are you okay to walk?" Hori asked, looking up at her. "Or do you want me to carry you again?"

"I can walk," Kashima said, moving back from him. She felt a little bit better now that she had some rest, but she definitely knew she'd be going back to sleep once she got home.

"Okay, well let me know if you can't. Don't need you passing out on the pavement." Hori said as they made their way to her house.

"I don't think that'll happen again." Kashima said, giving him a weak smile. They walked to her house mainly in silence, but not an uncomfortable silence. Despite the fact that she felt awful, she also felt happy just walking next to him. She wished it never had to end.

"Kashima, are you going to walk right by your own house?" Hori asked, taking her hand to stop her.

"H-huh?" Kashima stopped and looked down at him, then glanced over at her house. "Oh, right. Sorry." She said, not having realized she was lost in thought until he pulled her out of her trance.

"Let's get you to bed," Hori said, opening the front gate and walking up with her to the house. He took her key from her when she took it out and unlocked the front door, and then let her go in first. He took his shoes off and pulled on a pair of slippers, following her to her room, waiting until she was lying down safely to say, "I'm going to get the thermometer and check your temperature before I go." He moved out of her room and into the hall, pulling out the first aid kit from the closet. He knew where it was because he had been there a couple times and Kashima had ended up needing it, mainly because something had ended up being thrown at her.

Kashima closed her eyes, listening to the sounds of Hori going through the closet in the hall. She knew he'd leave once he took her temperature and it made her sad. She wanted more time. "Senpai…" She called out, sitting up and holding a hand to her head.

"What is it?" Hori asked as he moved into the room and handed over the thermometer. "Put that under your arm." He turned so he wasn't facing her, so he wouldn't see when she lifted up her shirt.

"If it's not too much, do you think you could stay for a little bit? And make rice porridge?" Kashima asked as she threw off her sweater and then unbuttoned the top of her shirt enough that she could stick the thermometer under her armpit.

"Sure, I'll do that now." Hori replied, nodding and heading towards the kitchen.

"Thank you." Kashima called out as she laid back down. She pulled out the thermometer and looked at it, frowning. 101. She definitely needed to sleep, but not yet. For now she'd just close her eyes.

* * *

"Kashima," Hori said as he set the food tray down on her nightstand and placed a hand on her cheek, hoping the coldness of his hand would wake her up. "Kashima, wake up." He said.

"W-what?!" Kashima started, sitting up abruptly. She hadn't expected to fall asleep.

"Foods done," Hori said, picking the tray back up and handing it over. He fixed her pillows so she could lean back against them and then grabbed the thermometer off of the bed, saying, "Well this definitely is useless now."

"It said 101 when I looked." Kashima replied, leaning back against the pillows. She began to eat and said between bites, "I hope the rest of the club doesn't get sick too…"

"Let's not even think about that." Hori said, taking a seat at her desk, sitting so he was leaning with his chest against the back of his chair and his arms were folded on top of it. He rested his head on his arms and continued, "I'd have to find people to work on the props and we both know that never went well in the past."

Kashima chuckled a bit and then started coughing. "Don't make me laugh, I might die." She said once the coughing subsided.

"Hey, hey you can't die, we need you. Who else will take over when I'm gone?" Hori asked.

"What me?!" Kashima asked, surprised at the fact that he thought she could be president.

"Who else?" Hori asked matter-of-factly.

"Uh, someone who doesn't need someone to drag them to the club?" Kashima suggested, wondering if he hit his head or something.

"No…no one else would be as good as you." Hori lifted his head and shook it. "The club needs someone both talented and respected. Sure you'd need to shape up a bit and be on time, but I know you can do it."

"Are you serious?" Kashima asked, raising an eyebrow. "Me?"

"Yes," Hori replied meeting her eyes, "unless you don't want to do it."

Kashima paused for a moment and stared down at her porridge. She didn't want to think about him leaving, but at the same time it made her happy to think he wanted to leave the presidency to her and had so much confidence in her. A small smiled crept across her lips and she looked back up, "I want to do it. I just didn't know it until now. Thank you, senpai."

Hori smiled back at her and said, "I'm glad. I can't think of anyone better suited to take my place."

* * *

"There you are, Hori-senpai!" Sakura said as she looked up from the bathroom scene she was painting on a board. "Is Kashima-kun okay?" She asked, still feeling horrible for not saying anything to keep her from trying to act earlier.

"Yea, she's okay. She has a fever, but she's at home sleeping and her mom's home with her now." Hori replied as he made his way up the stage, grabbing a paintbrush and some paint from the supply stockpile, as well as a board.

"That's good!" Sakura said letting out a sigh of relief. "Did you take her home?" She asked, going back to work.

Hori nodded. "Yea, I stayed there until her mom came home." He said as he sat down beside Sakura and started to work on a sky scene, saying. "I hope she recovers soon. I want to spend as much time with her as possible before I graduate..." He said in a low voice.

Sakura paused and looked up at him, blushing slightly at the thought of how romantic what he said was. Without even meaning to she asked, "Do you like Kashima, Hori-senpai?"

Hori didn't even hesitate; he just smiled softly and said. "I do."

Sakura's eyes widened and she quickly corrected herself, "I-I mean, like…like _like_! Like-really like!"

Hori chuckled and looked up at her, "I know what you meant. Are you really that surprised?"

"No…I guess not." Sakura said, shaking her head. "I was just surprised you were so honest. Why haven't you told her though?"

"Because the right moment hasn't come yet. She needs to stay focused right now." Hori replied looking back down at the board he was painting. "But I will tell her before I graduate."

 _Wow…that's...that's amazing!_ Sakura thought, imaging all the possible ways he could ask her out. Maybe he'd be dressed up like a prince and ask her out by telling her she was his princess-no, that wasn't right. Kashima would just reverse that on him. Maybe he'd take her somewhere special, like to her favorite restaurant and tell her by spelling it out in food. _No, that's too much work…_ She decided she'd just ask, "How do you plan to tell her?"

Hori paused and just stared at the board. "I have absolutely no idea. And that terrifies me, because she deserves something as amazing as she is." He had played hundreds of scenarios out in his head, over and over while lying in bed or bored in classes, but he just couldn't think of the right way.

"Kashima is so lucky to have someone who cares so much about her!" Sakura cried, clenching her fists and bringing both below her face. She forgot she had a paintbrush in her hand though and ended up covering her face with red paint.

Hori glanced over and laughed, "I'm not even sure she likes me back."

"She does! I'm sure of it!" Sakura replied with a smile, setting down the paint brush. "Oh noooo my face!" She said when she saw the paintbrush and realized what she had done, getting up and running off. "Haruna-chan, I need a paper towel!"

Hori just shook his head and smiled. _I hope you're right, Sakura…_

* * *

"I'm so glad you're feeling better!" Sakura called out to Kashima as she ran over to her locker, folding her hands together and holding them against her chest. "But it's a shame that Hori-senpai is sick now…" She said, sighing. She knew Kashima had been excited to be coming back after four days, as she had said in her texts this morning. And now that she knew that Hori definitely liked her, she felt bad for both of them not getting to see each other.

"Really? He's sick?" Kashima asked grabbing her by the shoulders.

"Y-yea," Sakura said nodding, "Nozaki-kun told me."

"Damn!" Kashima said pulling her arms back and holding her face in her hands. "It's my fault!"

"You don't know that! A lot of people have been sick!" Sakura said reassuringly, though she was probably right.

"I know!" Kashima said, suddenly full of energy again as she stood up straight. "I can make him soup!" She said, throwing open her locker and pulling out her backpack.

Sakura ducked, "Kashima-kun! Watch out!"

"Oh, I'm sorry…" Kashima said as she slammed it shut. "I have to go though. Bye, Chiyo-chan!" She called out as she was already running away.

"What about drama club?!" Sakura called back.

"Who cares about drama club right now? Not like I have much to practice without senpai there!" Kashima shouted back, before turning a corner. _I wonder if he'll eat the soup…maybe I'll say I bought it._ She thought, as she headed outside. _Yea, I'll say I bought it._ She thought, running faster.

* * *

"Senpai, are you awake?" Kashima asked as she knocked on his door. His father had let her in and directed her to his room.

Hori opened his eyes upon hearing Kashima's voice, wondering if he had been dreaming until he saw the door open and she poked her head inside. "Kashima? What are you doing here?" He asked, sitting up and brushing his bangs from his face.

"You are awake!" Kashima said, moving into the room. "Chiyo-chan told me you were sick, so I came to bring you soup."

"Oh…you didn't have to do that…" Hori said, thinking back to what Sakura had said to him about how she was sure that Kashima liked him back. He blushed.

"I wanted to," Kashima said smiling. "I just wanted to see if you wanted it now or later."

"Ah…yea, now sounds good." Hori said, fixing his pillows so he could lean back. He wasn't hungry, but he wanted her to stick around so he'd eat it now.

Kashima smiled, "Then I'll be back in a couple minutes. Do you need anything else?"

"Water." Hori said, coughing into his arm.

"Okay!" Kashima said smiling and running off towards the kitchen.

Hori stifled a yawn and closed his eyes. _I wonder if she made it._ He thought, thinking about when she gave him chocolates for Valentine's Day and said that she had bought them, even though when he tried them he knew that she had made them. They had been a little bit sweeter than the kind she copied and he had actually liked them better. _I hope she did._ He thought, smiling. When he opened his eyes again, Kashima was coming in with a food tray. "That was fast." He said.

"I guess so." Kashima said as she moved over and handed him the tray. "I told you I'd get you sick," she said as she sat down on the edge of the bed.

"I'm not sure if it was you or the fact that I walked home from Nozaki's in the rain…" Hori said, sighing as he took the water off of the tray and set it on his nightstand. He picked up the spoon and scooped up a spoonful of soup, popping it into his mouth. _Definitely homemade._ He thought, returning the spoon to the bowl. "You made this, didn't you? It's good."

Kashima smiled, "How did you know?"

"No canned soup tastes this good." Hori replied, taking another bite. "Also the carrots aren't soggy, so that gives it away."

Kashima smiled wider. "I figured you wouldn't eat it if I told you I made it."

"I'd eat anything you made." Hori replied, looking up at her. "You're a pretty good cook."

"You think so-wait…what did you eat that I made?" Kashima asked, tilting her head to the side.

"The chocolates?" Hori replied, grinning when her jaw dropped. "Of course I knew Kashima. Who do you think I am, Nozaki? I'm not clueless."

"I guess so." Kashima replied laughing. "Well, I'm glad you liked them." They talked for a couple more minutes and then she got up, grabbing the tray from him when he finished. She paused for a moment when she saw the paper on his nightstand that said "GRADUATION IS ONLY SIX WEEKS AWAY!"

"Something wrong?" Hori asked, noticing that Kashima had stopped and was looking at the nightstand.

"Huh? Oh, no, I just was looking at the picture you had here." Kashima said, nodding to the picture that was beside the flyer. It was of him as a kid with a dog. Probably something he was submitting to the graduation, since they planned to display their picture beside one from their childhood.

"Oh," Hori said, glancing over. He had a feeling that wasn't true and that she was looking at the graduation flyer, because she looked too sad to be looking at a picture of a kid who looked happy next to a dog that was still alive, evident by the fact that he knew there was no way she made it in the door without seeing him. _Don't worry,_ he wanted to say as he watched her leave the room, _you won't lose me if that's what you're worried about._ But he couldn't say it. Not yet.

* * *

"Alexander!" Hori shouted, holding his hand out towards Kashima as the sword "impaled" her. He jumped down from his "horse" and ran towards her, making it to her side to catch her when she fell. But first he slashed towards the person who had stabbed her, leaving his sword underneath their arm as if he had stabbed them in the heart.

"B-brother…" Kashima stammered, looking down at the sword, eyes widening. With her other hand, which was hidden by her horse's mane she pressed the button to make the small tube in her shirt squirt out fake blood. "I'm okay…I'm okay…" She began, trembling as she fell sideways into Hori's arms. _This is it…this is my last scene with senpai…the last time I get to act with senpai._

Hori brought her to his lap and brought a hand to her stomach, which now had the fake blood all over it, "Alexander! You can't die!"

"B-brother…" Kashima gasped, reaching out with a shaky hand. _This is the last play we get to work on together…_

"Don't talk," Hori said, grabbing her hand and squeezing it, "save your energy."

"I'm going to die…" Kashima said in a shaky voice as she looked at all of the blood on his hand, "I'm going to die, Robert…you…you need to lead the troops."

"You won't die! Don't say things like that!" Hori shouted. _No, I don't want this to be the end…_

"Promise me, you'll do it, Robert…" Kashima said, coughing. "I need your promise."

"You promise me first. You won't die." Hori said, feeling tears well up in his eyes. He hadn't been able to force them before, but now he knew exactly why. He didn't want this to be the last time he worked with Kashima on a play. He didn't want to be leaving her for college. _I just want this moment to last forever... I never imagined someone could touch my heart like this…_

"I won't die." Kashima promised, feeling her throat close up at seeing Hori cry. _Senpai…_

"Then I'll do it." Hori promised, before turning to the guy playing their medic. "Take him and make sure you save his life." He said, moving aside for him so they could both get her up and bring her into a wagon.

"I won't die…"Kashima repeated, reaching out for his hand one last time now that she was lying on the wagon and squeezing it. _That was it…my last line…_

"I know, you promised." Hori replied, squeezing her hand back. _It's over…_ He watched as they wheeled her away and then returned to his horse. "Let's move forward men!" He shouted to those around him, but no one moved. "Are you deaf?!" He screamed.

Kashima got off of the wagon and stood in the shadows, watching as someone shouted "What's the point?!" and Hori began to yell at him. She clenched her fist, murmuring his lines as she watched. There wasn't much of the play left now. Once he rallied the troops and they won, he'd return to the castle to find out that Alexander had died and he'd mourn the loss of his brother at his grave, since at this point too much time was supposed to have passed for them to have wanted to keep the body around. The play would then end with him taking the crown that he had originally thought he'd never take, since even their father had been unimpressed by him and when he was on his deathbed had said that the best thing Robert could do for the kingdom was die so that Alexander could take over.

 _You're amazing, senpai._ Kashima thought as she watched the rest of the play unfold, never moving from the spot until it was over and Hori came off of the stage so that the minor characters could take their bows. "That was amazing!" She said, smiling at him. "Just amazing!" She was about to hug him, but Haruna had grabbed him by the arm and turned him towards her.

"Hori-kun, take this out there with you!" Haruna said as she handed him a sword, then handed one over to Kashima. "You too. Do something cool with them." Then she ran off onto the stage to go take her own bow since she had played one of their maids.

Hori turned back towards Kashima and offered her his hand, smiling, "You were amazing too, Kashima. Come on." Everything was happening so fast, which wasn't uncommon at the end of a play. However, it seemed even faster than usual and he knew exactly why. It was because he didn't want any of it to end. But if it had to end, he wanted Kashima to be there with him in the final moments.

Kashima smiled and they headed out together, hand in hand. They made eye contact briefly and both knew what to do. They broke apart and clashed swords, jumping back and doing it again, and again. Then they were on opposite sides of the stage and they stopped to bow, then ran at each other one last time and clashed swords. As they did the rest of the cast returned out for one final bow. They brought their swords to rest at their sides and took hands, then bowed to the audience one last time.

 _It's over…_ They both thought as they tore their hands apart slowly and met each other's eyes. They walked off of the stage from the front, meeting their families below it. They wouldn't see each other again until the after party.

* * *

Kashima made her way outside, pulling off the cravat she was wearing and shoving it into her pocket. She felt suffocated inside, which was not something that normally happened when people were around her congratulating her on a successful play or in general, since she was so used to being surrounded by people. It was just that given the circumstances, she felt that she needed a moment alone. A moment to deal with the fact that this was the end of her beloved kohai position, the end of her getting a chance to act with Hori, and quite possibly the beginning of the end of their friendship. That's what happened when people went to college. They forgot about their high school friends. Forgot all about the girl who they never knew loved them.

Hori was sitting on the top of the school's front stairs, taking in the night air and trying to come to terms with the fact that his high school acting career was over. Now he had to make his way in college, where there'd be plenty of talented individuals to compete with. Not that he really cared so much if he ever acted again. Sure he loved it, but he also loved directing and working stage crew. He could do that forever. He had even chosen to go into architecture because he had liked designing the sets so much. It was just that he liked being able to act alongside Kashima whenever he got a chance and that was something that he couldn't do anymore, especially if she went to his college and he wasn't as good of an actors as the others. Not if she found someone better than him. _God, shut up brain!_ He grabbed his hair and pulled. How was he ever going to tell her he loved her? He tilted his head to the side in his palms and saw the roses sitting on the stairs beside him. _Idiot, of course she's probably gotten hundreds of those already._ The only difference was his were blue, like her hair.

Kashima began to unbutton the top of her shirt, needing to get everything that was stifling her breathing away from her neck. It seemed she couldn't do it fast enough, possibly because her hands were trembling, or possibly because she couldn't see straight due to the tears in her eyes. "God damn it!" She hissed when a button just popped off and she kicked the bottom of the stairs, falling to her knees against them. How did she even get here?

Hori looked up when he heard Kashima shouting and instantly was on his feet, moving towards the bottom of the stairs. "Kashima, what's wrong?!" He asked dropping to his knees and bringing her face into his hands, making her look up at him.

Kashima met his eyes and suddenly all the tears fell from her eyes. "Hori…" She said, dropping the rest of the formalities. She straightened up and threw her arms around him. "I'm going to miss you," she said, crying into his chest, gripping onto the shirt, "so much…I don't want you to go."

Hori brought his arms around her and said, "I'm not going anywhere, Yuu."

"Yes you are, you're graduating and you're going to forget about me…" Kashima said, not even realizing he had used her first name. "And I won't even know what to do, because I didn't even realize how much I really loved you until I realized you were going to be moving on with your life."

Relief suddenly flooded over him. She loved him. Kashima Yuu, the prince of the school, loved him. What a sentence. "I'm not moving on from you though, Yuu." He brought a hand under her chin and titled it up. "Because I love you too." He wished he had told her sooner. He wished he had never left a doubt in her mind about his place in her future.

"You love me?" Kashima asked, before breaking into a grin.

"Of course I do." Hori said, smiling back at her as he wiped at her tears. He'd never let her doubt that he wanted to be in her life ever again. "You're the most amazing girl I've ever met, so of course I love you."

Kashima grabbed his face and kissed him, something that she realized was long overdue at this point. She felt Hori lean into the kiss and for a moment all there was in the world was the two of them.

Hori pulled back from the kiss and he just held her close. "By the way, I want you to call me by my first name." He said after a long moment.

Kashima rested her head against his shoulder and said, "That'll take some time to get used to, but okay, Masayuki." It sounded so weird, but it felt right.

Hori kissed her on the forehead and said, "Think we should head on inside before people start wondering where we are? And you know so we can eat."

Kashima nodded and pulled back, standing up. She no longer felt like she was being suffocated and the idea of being around others was once again a prospect she welcomed. And judging by the fact that her stomach chose now to remind her it existed by letting out a loud groan, her stomach welcomed the prospect of food. "Sounds wonderful, I haven't eaten anything all day." She said chuckling and bringing a hand to her stomach.

Hori laughed and took her hand, "Then we better hurry." They made their way back up to the top of the stairs and he paused, bending over to grab the roses. "I didn't have the courage to give you these earlier," he said, turning to face her and handing them over.

Kashima smiled, "They're beautiful. Thank you." She leaned down to kiss him.

"I can get used to this." Hori said once they broke apart, taking her hand again and heading inside with her.

* * *

"Do you see them?" Sakura asked as she glanced around, bouncing up and down to look over the crowd of people.

"Nope," Nozaki said, shaking his head, "I see Seo and Wakamatsu though. She's shoving food into his mouth. Oh and Mikorin…he's about to be hiding in a corner."

"I guess they'll show up." Sakura sighed, there was no point searching. They always showed up eventually. "Let's go get some food…" She said as her stomach growled.

"Good plan," Nozaki said as the two of them moved on over to the buffet. "There they are!" He shouted, pointing to the doorway where Hori and Kashima were coming in. "No, wait, that can't be them!" He said, noticing that they were holding hands. "Absolutely not, that's aliens!"

"What?! What are you going on about?!" Sakura questioned, looking up at him like he was insane, and then glancing at where he was pointing. A big smile spread across her face when she saw what he was freaking out about. They were holding hands and both had huge grins on their faces. "He told her!" She cheered, before heading over to them. "You two were amazing out there!" She said, smiling at her friends.

"Thank you," they both said at the same time.

"Did someone glue your hands together? Is that where you two were? Trying to remove the glue?" Nozaki asked as he took his place beside Sakura.

"What?" Hori asked, raising an eyebrow before looking down at his and Kashima's hands. He laughed. "Nozaki, you're an idiot. How are you ever going to get a girlfriend if you're that dense?"

"Oh, so you two are admitting to it…we don't have to pretend you don't like each other anymore." Nozaki said, smiling.

"Wait, even you realized?" Kashima asked, looking over at Nozaki.

"I think anyone who couldn't see it is blind." Nozaki replied, laughing. "Considering you two spend all day chasing each other around. I just figured we were all pretending it wasn't obvious." He said shrugging.

"I told you she liked you," Sakura whispered moving closer to Hori since Kashima was distracted.

"Better yet, she loves me." Hori replied with a grin.

* * *

 **FIN**

 **A/N:** So, once again, late. Horikashi week is technically over, but I committed so of course I was going to deliver. Family came to visit, so I had to take some time to see them and got even more behind than I was to begin with. However, I have finished all of the prompts and I will be posting them when I can while I am able to stop in hotels since I'll be on a road trip, so sometime within the next few days hopefully. Or at least within the next two weeks, since they are done. They just need to be proof read!


	5. Excuses

**Summary:** It's never been a secret that Hori and Kashima go to extreme lengths to be with one another, but do they want others to know the truth? No, of course not, so they make excuses as to why they'd do things like get up before dawn or walk back to school after hours for extra play practice.

 **A/N** : Here's my one-shot for the Horikashi week 2015, day 5 prompt "excuses." Super, super late. I should have figured I'd have NO time to edit this and post it while I was on my road trip and staying in Seattle. I didn't even really have time for sleep! But it was already written before then! Hey look-I'm following the prompt so well already!

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun or any of its characters, this is a fan work.

* * *

 **5\. Excuses**

One moment Hori was standing in the middle of a group of students, telling them about how their play was very important because there was a talent scout coming to the school and the next he was yelling at Kashima backstage to turn off her phone and take their play seriously. After about a minute of yelling at her he realized it was his own phone and went to reach for it in his pocket, causing his dream to end and when he opened his eyes he saw that he was already reaching for the phone that was lying on the pillow beside him. His vision was blurred so he couldn't see much, but he instinctively knew where to slide his finger across the screen to stop the noise. _So early…_ He thought, knowing it was four thirty am. With a groan he got up, pushing his bangs from his face and heading out of his room.

"Masayuki, why do you keep getting up so early?" His father asked, looking up from his coffee when he saw his son shuffling out of his room. He had a long commute so of course he'd be up, but Masayuki didn't need to be up for another two hours at least. His son was an early riser usually, mainly so he could use the bathroom without others getting in his way, but he wasn't usually up this early.

"Club stuff," Hori muttered, stifling a yawn as he grabbed a mug from the cupboard and fixed himself a cup of coffee. Of course he wouldn't let his father know that wasn't the truth and that in reality he was just getting up so he had time to get ready without having to rush and then backtrack to the station he needed to meet Kashima at.

"This early?" His father asked, raising an eyebrow. "What are you working on?"

"Sets," Hori replied, sipping the coffee, "organizing stuff..." He leaned against the counter for a moment, closing his eyes. _So tired._ They had a late practice last night because they were only days away from their spring play. Or at least that was the excuse he was making for having gone to bed at 1 am, ignoring the fact that he had been texting Kashima instead of sleeping.

"I don't ever remember you having to work in the mornings in the past." His father said, watching as his son jumped back from the lull of sleep and caught himself from spilling his coffee onto the floor.

"Yea…president stuff…" Hori yawned. He opened the drawer he was standing in front of and grabbed the lid to his mug. He snapped it onto his cup and then said, "I won't be home for dinner tonight. We have another late practice."

"Okay. Just make sure you eat something." His father replied, frowning a bit. He worried about him during the week before a play, which he had once heard his son refer to as "hell week." The only reason he had seen his son at all this week was because of the fact that he got up so early and managed to catch him leaving. His other son and wife probably only managed to talk to him through text. Unless Norio saw him at school, which he somehow doubted because often it sounded like Norio avoided his older brother.

"Yea, we're ordering take out." Hori replied, stifling a yawn. "See you tomorrow." He said, knowing his father would be asleep by the time he got home. Matter of fact, so would the rest of his family. He headed towards his room, finding his phone was buzzing on his desk. Kashima's name was flashing on the screen. It stopped for a second just as he reached for it, the call having gone to voicemail, and then started to buzz again as if she had hung up and just tried calling again. He picked it up this time and slid his finger over the green answer button, "Hello?"

"S-senpai…" Kashima's voice began on the other end, sounding rather weak. "I need your help."

That instantly woke Hori up. "What's wrong?" He asked, feeling his heart begin to beat frantically.

"I'm stuck…in the school..." Kashima's voice was still low and it crackled a bit. "In-a-closet." She added hastily.

"What?! What are you doing at the school this early?!" Hori asked eyes widening as he grabbed his hair and pulled at it.

"I've been here all night," Kashima replied, sighing, "I set up in the drama club's supply closet so I could just sleep here and the door is now locked."

"Wait, you've been there all night?" Hori asked, letting his hand fall to his side. "Are you fucking nuts?" How had he not known? They had been texting for hours after he had left. Hell, he had taken her to the train station himself. _Meaning she walked back alone at night…_ He thought, heart racing again at that thought. "I'll be there soon, just hang in there." He said moving to his closet and pulling out his uniform.

"Okay…but hurry please…" Kashima's voice sounded strained. She paused and then added in an urgent tone, "I have to pee…"

Hori just sighed, "You're a moron. I'll be there as soon as soon as I can." He had already thrown off his pajama pants and was pulling on his pants. "Don't you dare ruin anything in that fucking closet!" He said as he buttoned his pants and began to put his belt on. "I'm hanging up now." He grabbed his tie and shoved it in his back pocket along with his phone, then started to pull on his shirt and began buttoning it as he made his way out of his room. Usually he'd shower, fix his bangs, and eat, but obviously he needed to be quick. He grabbed his bag from the hook it was hanging on in the entryway and shoved on his shoes, seeing his father pop his head around the corner.

"You're leaving now?" His father asked before glancing outside. The streetlight outside was still on.

"Yea, I realized I left one of the props sitting out in the hall to dry and need to get it before someone else gets to it. Some of the sports teams come in early and those idiots will definitely try messing around with it." Hori said as he went back to buttoning the rest of his shirt.

"But Masayuki…" His father began with a frown, but his son interrupted him.

"Sorry dad. It can't be remade, so I need to hurry." Hori said, opening the door and heading out.

"…You have no socks on…" His father finished, shaking his head. "And that's Norio's bag…" He just shook his head. He'd tell his younger son to just go to his class and switch out the bags.

* * *

"You better not have pissed in there!" Hori shouted as he hurried into the drama room, digging into his bag for the keys to the closet. When his hand met with hundreds of crumpled papers he froze. "Fuck,"he looked down into the bag, seeing that it was his brother's, "really?!"

"Senpai! Is that you?!" Kashima cried, getting up and moving over to the door. She leaned against it. "Hurry up and let me out!" She cried.

Hori looked up at the door. _Crap, I'm sorry Kashima…_ He moved over and said, "I need to get the keys from the janitor…but I don't think he's here yet."

"What?!" Kashima fell to her knees. "I thought you had a pair?!"

"I do…but apparently I have Norio's bag." Hori replied, bringing a hand to his face and sighing into it. That's when he saw a set of tools sitting out in the corner. "Never mind, I can use those!" He said, moving over and grabbing a screwdriver. "Stand back Kashima, I'm going to take the door off of the hinges." He said, dragging a desk over so he could stand on it. _I never thought I'd be happy that students didn't put stuff away properly…_

"Oh thank god!" Kashima exclaimed, bringing her hands together and looking up at the sky. "Thank you!" She cried, shaking her hands while they were folded together.

Hori got up onto the desk and began to unhinge the door, glad that the person who had installed it had done so backwards. He had watched the guy do it when it needed to be replaced after someone (Kashima) had ended up kicking it in while fooling around and told him it was supposed to put with the hinges on the inside, only to be met with, "Hey my job was to just put a door up and that's what I did." Basically, Hori had to reinstall the door handle so that they could at least lock it and hope that no one else would be smart enough to just take the hinges off. He had never thought it would end up working out in his favor. It even made up for how mad he was that it not being installed properly meant people could get in if they really wanted to. Especially since people had already stolen props in the past from the closet-well, people had stolen Kashima's prince costume and that was the only thing he really cared about in there. But as the club's president what kind of answer would that have been? Obviously it would have just been blatant favoritism had he said anything about it. Or at least that was the excuse he gave so that no one would know he was really just thinking about how Kashima looked too good in the new costume they had gotten her and it would be a shame to lose it.

"Hurry up please…" Kashima whined listening as the door shifted some.

"I'm almost done, just count backwards or something." Hori said as he got off the desk and pushed it aside so he could work on the bottom hinge.

Once Hori unscrewed the bottom hinge and the door was sitting off to the side Kashima got up and ran out, throwing her arms around him. "Thank you senpai!" She kissed him on the cheek and then ran off. But she did pause in the doorway and turn back to look at him. "Your bangs look cute down…there's a princess dress in there you should try on!" She said, flashing a huge grin and then running off.

Hori wasn't sure what to do. Blush because she kissed him on the cheek or run after her and kill her for that comment. He opted not to do the latter only because they needed her for the play and decided now was a good opportunity to fix the door. _Damn it Kashima…_ He thought, shaking his head as he went to work. _The things I do for you…_

* * *

"You don't have to walk me the entire way, senpai." Kashima said as she looked down at Hori. "I'll be fine on my own."

"Of course I have to walk you," Hori looked up at her, grabbing her tie and dragging her closer to him, "because last time you ended up going back to the school and I had to get you out of the damned closet at five thirty in the morning."

Kashima smiled as if she were a child who had been caught doing something they weren't supposed to be doing but thought it was funny anyways. "I won't do that again!" She said, straightening up, only to be yanked back down towards him again.

"Of course not, because this time you're going to go home and go to bed. And then tomorrow morning you're going to be at the train station." Hori said, glaring at her. "Because it's fucking midnight and you don't need to be walking back to the school…"

"I won't!" Kashima groaned mimicking the tone a child made when their parent just wouldn't stop telling them something and they just wanted them to drop it.

"Good," Hori said, letting go of her tie.

Kashima fell backwards some, not expecting him to give up so easily. _He must be tired…_ She thought. "But really, my house is right there." She said, pointing to it. "You can go now."

"No, I'm going to make sure you get in." Hori shook his head. _I want to make sure you're safe. Even though you look like a boy, you never know…_ "What were you even doing at the school?" He asked looking up at her.

"I left my math book behind and still need to do homework…and once I found it, it was down pouring." Kashima murmured, looking away. The truth was she had been practicing on the stage alone because she didn't want Hori to know that she was having a lot of trouble with a certain scene, since it was something he had said was why he thought this play was perfect for her. The scene was supposed to be one where the prince was confessing their love to someone, but in a way that was more sincere than what she was used to, and she wasn't sure how to do it. She had the ideas, but it just didn't feel right. Something was off. She had told herself it was the fact that the princess deserved better lines than the prince was using, but something in the back of her mind kept telling her it wasn't the lines, but the fact that the princess wasn't the right princess. It wasn't her princess, so she couldn't get the proper feelings towards her. But was that just an excuse she was making to deal with the fact that she was having trouble with something? She wasn't sure. Either way, she didn't want anyone knowing.

"Well, if you find out you forgot something tonight, tell me and we'll figure something out because it's dangerous to walk there alone at night, Kashima." Hori said, not even trying to make an excuse for his concern this time. "Now go get some sleep."

Kashima blushed a little bit. "Thank you for walking me." She said, smiling and then heading off into her house.

Hori stood there for a moment, waiting until he saw the light go on in her room to turn and walk off. _Maybe I'll walk you the entire way tomorrow too…_

* * *

 **FIN**

 **A/N** : Did I really just write a story where part of the point was someone had to pee? Okay then... But, as for Hori's brother. I just made up a name and I figure since we've never seen him, but he's apparently in high school...maybe he avoids his brother? (Maybe he goes to a different school? No idea. I hope we get to see him sometime.)


	6. Teamwork

**Summary:** Hori and Kashima are on a mission to try to help Sakura give Nozaki Valentine's Day chocolate since her last attempt failed miserably. While working together on this seemingly futile mission they realize just why they like each other.

 **A/N** : Here's my one-shot for the Horikashi week 2015, day 6 prompt "teamwork."

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun or any of its characters, this is a fan work.

* * *

 **5\. Teamwork**

"So last year on Valentine's Day Chiyo-chan couldn't find the time to give Nozaki-kun her chocolates," Kashima said to Hori as she sat down beside him on their morning train, "I was thinking maybe we could help her this year…I already got Mikoshiba and Seo to agree to help. So since Valentine's Day is tomorrow we're going to meet up and brainstorm."

"Hmm," Hori brought his hand to his chin, "sounds like that'll be hard considering Nozaki just runs around the entire day." He knew Chiyo wouldn't do it in a straightforward way, so of course she or Nozaki would get distracted by something. Or perhaps even both of them would and she'd only realize until later she had a chance to give him the chocolates before she was swept away by one of his crazy schemes to get ideas for his manga.

"Doing what exactly?" Kashima asked, raising an eyebrow. She knew Nozaki was weird and was often looking for "ideas," but what for she had no idea.

"It's like a hobby for him…" Hori said pulling out his phone and looking at it. He got a text from Nozaki asking him if he had brought the camera he lent him. _Yea, I have it._ He replied back.

"What kind of hobby is that?!" Kashima asked, wondering what exactly Nozaki did with all that knowledge he was gathering. Hori seemed to be ignoring her though because he was replying to his texts.

 _Yea, we can meet there._ Hori replied back before looking up at Kashima. "Sorry, I got distracted…did you say something?"

"No…" Kashima sighed, shaking her head. She had decided she didn't want to actually know the answer and was grateful for the chance to back out of knowing. "Anyways, will you help?"

"Oh yea, sure," Hori replied nodding, "although to be honest, if she just texted him to meet her he'd come…"

Kashima laughed and shook her head, "Yea, but that's too simple."

* * *

"Hey, Seo." Kashima said as she sat down beside her on a bench outside. "I didn't keep you waiting long did I?"

"Hey…I don't really know, I've been watching the boys play basketball over there." She said, pointing to where a group of boys were gathered. Wakamatsu was in the center of the group. "Did you do the singing exercises I told you to do?" Seo asked before taking a bite of the rice ball she had in her hand.

"Yea, I did," Kashima replied nodding. "But we can't talk about that now. Senpai's coming." She said in a hushed voice before she waved Hori over and once he joined she quickly changed the subject by asking, "Okay now that we're all here…Seo, what's a good way to get Chiyo-chan to be able to give the guy she likes chocolates?"

"She should just go up to him and go, "Hey, yo, I got you some chocolate," and throw it at him." Seo replied grinning.

"I don't think that'll work …" Kashima said shaking her head, scratching at the side of her cheek with her thumb. She couldn't help but imagine Chiyo just throwing it at his chest and then crying when the candies spilled and someone stepped on them.

"Definitely not…" Hori shook his head, imaging Nozaki thinking she was mad and asking him how to fix it. He'd probably stop being able to write a good plot for his manga for awhile too, because he'd be too freaked out about Sakura being mad and not knowing what he did.

"Why not?" Seo said as she got up, reaching into her bag and pulling out a small box. "Watch!" She began to run across the yard, shouting out, "Waka, hey! Waka! Come here!" She said, calling over the purple-haired first year.

"Seo-senpai, what is it?" Wakamatsu asked, breaking away from the group he was walking playing and moved over.

"I got you some chocolate," Seo said, throwing the box at him and then running off laughing.

Wakamatsu fell backwards with a groan when the box hit him in the face and laid there for a moment. The box was on his chest now and he picked it up, holding it over his face. "What just happened?!"

"Let's not go with that plan," Hori said looking over at Kashima and shaking his head, "poor Wakamatsu-kun." He wondered if he should go over and see if he was hurt.

"Definitely not." Kashima agreed, wondering how that ever seemed like a good plan to Seo.

"I'm sort of glad that's now how you gave me chocolate last year." Hori mused, watching Wakamatsu spill the box of chocolate open onto his face. He couldn't help but laugh a little.

* * *

"Okay, Mikoshiba," Kashima said as she sat down next to him in an empty classroom, "your turn. Seo's plan failed…"

Hori sat down on the desk across from her and said, "And Wakamatsu-kun was just beyond confused."

"Of course it failed." Mikoshiba replied shaking his head. "That girl's a monster…poor Wakamatsu is just continuously tortured by her. It's a wonder he's still alive."

"She's not a monster, I think she's just oblivious," Kashima replied as she leaned back in her seat, "but she's nice when you get to know her. That's beside the point though…so, what's a good idea to help out Chiyo-chan?"

"Hmm…let's see…" Mikoshiba said, bringing a hand to his chin. _What would the girl's do in a videogame…? I mean, we only ever see it from the point of view of getting the chocolate…so maybe they did something to know the boy's schedule._ He froze when it dawned on him that there were always other girls who were vying for his affection in videogames, "She needs to stalk him until the perfect moment. And stop anyone else from giving him chocolates. There's no other way, because she definitely can't just leave it somewhere for him…and she can't have others get in her way either!" All he could think of was how the girls acted like cuckoo birds and would throw out the other girls' chocolates if they were left in waiting for the recipient or how some girls would pull pranks on the others in order to embarrass them so much they couldn't bare the idea of giving their chocolates.

"I don't think anyone else is going to give him chocolate anyways." Kashima said, remembering having seen him this morning and a group of girl's whispering about how he "didn't learn from last year and so this year they wouldn't give him chocolate or the time of day." What he had done to deserve that treatment she had no idea and honestly she wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer. But thinking about it, she was glad that no one else gave Hori chocolate on Valentine's Day last year. It made her feel special to know she was the only one. _What about this year though?_ She wondered, glancing over at him.

"And I think the problem with that is Sakura would probably consider the stalking part and get in trouble for skipping out on classes…" Hori muttered, remembering her telling him about the candy apple she was going to save. _God sometimes she's scary when it comes to Nozaki_ …

"Well, maybe she should just give it to him?" Mikoshiba suggested, not really sure there was any other way. "I mean, Sakura isn't the flashy type, so I can't think of any other way for her to do it."

"The problem is she can't seem to get ahold of him." Kashima replied with a sigh as she brushed her hands through her hair. "But thanks. It's okay, I'll figure out some way to help her." She looked over at Hori and said, "Did you ask Wakamatsu-kun?"

"No, but I think basketball club will be starting soon," Hori said as he stood up, "come on, we'll go see if we can catch him before it starts."

"Okay!" Kashima said getting up. "See you later, Mikoshiba-kun!" She said waving over her shoulder as she followed Hori out of the room.

"Bye…" Mikoshiba muttered, not looking up at her or even waving. He had an incoming text from MayuMayu and that was sucking up all of his attention now.

* * *

Hori and Kashima closed in on the gym, hearing maniacal laughter echoing through the hall. They both stopped at the door and shuddered as they saw what was going on inside.

"Yo Waka!" Seo shouted, throwing the ball towards his face when he looked towards her. "You're so slow! You need to react faster!"

Waka fell to the ground and just laid there. _Why did I agree to play a one-on-one with her?_

Hori and Kashima both glanced at each other and asked in unison, "Should we go in there?"

"Kashima-kun!" Seo called out when she saw her in the door way. "Come over! We can play girls versus guys!" She ran over and grabbed her arm, dragging her in. "I've got more ideas for Chiyo-chan, so we'll brainstorm."

Hori watched as Kashima was dragged away and ran his hand through his hair. _I have a feeling none of those ideas will be useful._ He thought, before walking over to Wakamatsu and bending down. "So…you dead?"

"I think so," Wakamatsu replied with a groan. "Seo-senpai is so strong."

"Maybe you should just walk around with a football helmet on from now on." Hori said, not sure how Wakamatsu put up with her. _God, I'm so glad that Kashima isn't like that…_ He offered him a hand and helped him sit up.

"Protect your face if you play." Wakamatsu said, although he was usually the only one who's face Seo aimed for. "In case Kashima gets ideas from Seo…"

"I don't think that'll happen," Hori said chuckling, "but speaking of ideas…I have a friend who wants to give a guy chocolate, but she's having trouble thinking about how. Any ideas?"

"Hmm…" Wakamatsu crossed his arms and brought one hand up to his chin. _What was that manga I read? Where the girl made the guy chocolate…_ "Oh! I know!" He said, throwing his arms apart and clapping his hands together. "She could make him think she doesn't like him for a week and then surprise him by giving him the chocolate!"

"…Acting like a tsundere manga character aside, Valentine's Day is tomorrow." Hori replied shaking his head. "But thanks."

"Oh right…" Wakamatsu murmured, thinking back to the candy he had dumped on his face. _Do you think Seo-senpai was trying to tell me something? Like that she expects people to get her candy?! But she's not a guy!_ He was beginning to feel dizzy just thinking about it. Or perhaps it was because he could hear Seo's sadistic laughter coming back towards him. By the time he looked over it was too late. A ball had already been skyrocketing towards his face.

* * *

"So we never did figure out a way to help Chiyo-chan, did we?" Kashima asked as she sat down beside Hori on the train. "And now it's Valentine's Day…" She sighed.

"Nope…guess not." Hori replied as he put his phone away. He was just texting Nozaki about meeting him after school, before drama club started, so Nozaki could give him some of the pictures he wanted him to study for backgrounds. "Too bad she can't just be more straightforward and just give it to him." He said, stretching his arms over his head. "Like, Nozaki always shows up if you ask him to."

"Wait…that's it!" Kashima shouted in excitement. "Why don't you ask him to meet you at some point and I'll ask Sakura to meet me…and then we just have them show up at the time!"

Hori brought his hand to his chin and thought about it for a moment, "Yea, that'll work. I'm supposed to meet him before club starts."

* * *

"Look, there they are!" Kashima said with a grin as she leaned over the balcony, watching as Chiyo and Nozaki ended up meeting each other on the stage. Club would start in about twenty minutes, so no one else was in the room.

"Don't talk so loudly," Hori hissed in a low voice, grabbing the back of her jacket and pulling her back from the balcony, then bringing a hand over her mouth, "and don't lean over or you'll fall over the edge."

"N-nozaki-kun…" Sakura said, blushing when she saw him. "Wh-what are you doing here?"

"I was supposed to meet senpai, but I have no idea where he is." Nozaki said looking around. "What about you?" He asked as he looked back down at her.

"Kashima asked me to come here." Sakura said looking around, not seeing the blue-haired girl anywhere. Then she remembered their conversation from the other day. She had told her she bought Nozaki chocolate, but didn't know if she'd be able to catch him since she failed last year. _Oh, this is what you meant by "don't worry about it, fate will find a way to make it happen this year." I understand now._ She felt her cheeks heat up even more now that she realized what was going on.

"Since you're here, I have something for you, Nozaki-kun." She said, turning a darker shade of crimson as she reached into her bag and pulled out the box of chocolate. _Thank you Kashima…_ She thought, before looking up at Nozaki. "H-here," she said, handing over the chocolate, "I-I….I'm-your-fan!" She managed in one breath, aside from the stuttering in the beginning. Then she felt her heart sink when she realized what she had said. _Again!?_ She chided herself, wanting to crawl into a dumpster because she knew what was coming.

"Thank you," Nozaki took the box and cradled it under his arm, then swiftly pulled out autograph paper and a pen from his bag. "You'll have a whole wall of these soon," He said as he quickly signed an autograph for her. "Here you go!" He said, handing it over.

"…T-tha…thanks…" Sakura stammered, staring down at the autograph. She wanted to cry so badly right now. _Why am I so stupid?_ She had imagined her soul had separated from her body and was now burying itself somewhere near the track. _So. So. Stupid._

"Want to go look for senpai and Kashima?" Nozaki suggested as if nothing had just happened, sliding the chocolate into his bag. Then he paused, pulling it out more to stare at the box. It was very intricately decorated and made a good reference. _Perhaps this was why she gave it to me?_ He wondered, looking back down at her.

"Yea, sure," Sakura said as she looked up at Nozaki. That's when she saw them. _Oh my god…you assholes watched?!_ She thought when she made eye contact with Hori and Kashima, who were both leaning over the balcony above the stage and staring with blank expressions.

Nozaki was going to ask her about the chocolates, but the horrified look on her face told him he should look up. He ended up following her line of sight up to the overhead balcony and spotted the two staring down at them, then called out, "There you two are!"

"Did he just…? He just gave her an autograph…he really fucking did…" Hori gasped in disbelief and then suddenly he burst out laughing. "Oh my god." He brought his hand to his stomach. He had to lean against Kashima to support himself.

"I can't believe that just happened…" Kashima replied, laughing hysterically as well. There were tears in her eyes. _Why on Earth would he give her an autograph?_ She wondered, thinking it was quite odd; nonetheless it was still hilarious to see something like that happen.

"Get down here! Both of you!" Sakura shouted, clenching her fists. She entirely forgot she had the autograph paper in one hand until she saw the stricken look on Nozaki's face. "Oh…oh no!" She cried trying to straighten it out. "I'm mad at them, not you Nozaki-kun!"

* * *

"I'm still not over what happened," Hori said laughing as he and Kashima got onto their train, "I can't believe he gave her an autograph…"

"I just don't understand…why did he have autograph paper? And why would he think _that_ was what she meant?" Kashima questioned, looking over at him as they sat down, trying to quell her fit of laughter.

 _Oh right, you don't know about him being a mangaka._ Hori thought, but he was just laughing too hard to respond because he was thinking about the look on Sakura's face. "He's just an idiot." He eventually responded. "But at least she got to give it to him this time, right?"

"Yea," Kashima chuckled. "Oh yea," she said as shifted and reached into her bag, pulling out a box of chocolate. "For you." She said smiling softly as she handed it over.

"Thank you," Hori said, returning her smile and taking the box.

"You're welcome." Kashima replied cheerfully. She was glad that she didn't have to deal with that kind of stuff with Hori. But she was also curious, "Did anyone else give you chocolate?" She felt her stomach knot up a bit hoping the answer was no.

"No," Hori replied shaking his head. The last time someone had given him chocolate other than Kashima was before he had met her. It had just suddenly stopped, not that he had minded. He didn't trust the candies from others, so he often politely had to refuse them with an excuse or he'd just give them to his younger brother.

Kashima couldn't help but smile again as relief washed over her. "Then that means I'm even more important, right?" She asked, blushing a bit.

Hori paused for a moment, realizing what she was asking. She wasn't asking about being his favorite kohai, because she would have just said that outright. And her face was slightly red. _Let's not mess this up like Nozaki._ He thought, reaching over and taking her hand, "Yes. It does." He watched as her smile became even more radiant and he knew he had replied with the right answer.

* * *

 **FIN**

 **A/N:** I am always so torn over how I'd want their relationship to actually like, start. Part of me really likes the idea that it'd be subtle like in this chapter. And at least on Hori's part having been something he was rather aware of for awhile. Another part of me is like, "I want a super dramatic like run in kiss type of situation." And another part of me is like, "I want the sad "is this goodbye?" kind of thing going on. So I went for the first one here.

Also yay everyone gets some sort of Valentine's Day stuff going on here! Even if poor Mikoshiba is really just texting Nozaki's brother. Oh I can't wait to see how that one will pan out.


End file.
